KEY POINTS:
Since becoming Prime Minister, John Key has attracted considerable media criticism - much of it directed at stylistic matters.
His failure to display a Prime Ministerial swagger as he walked into the lobby of a Lima hotel on arrival at Apec upset the television journos who were looking for their standard political "wallpaper" shots.
A male print blogger even felt his handshake was not manly enough.
In the real world where macho displays are not proof of competence by either sex, judgments are made on more holistic factors. Such as whether our Prime Minister is taking the requisite steps that will inject new energy into Government and create sufficient confidence so business starts investing again to get New Zealand out of the economic doldrums.
But when journalists get talking to each other in their political hot-house world, comparisons inevitably get made between the newbie PM's style and that of the polished predecessor who we (or most of us) had tired of by the November 8 election.
Many overlook the fact that Helen Clark's own authority and gravitas developed over her period as Deputy Prime Minister in the late 1980s and her latter nine years in the top job. And that she too displayed an almost frisky delight in her initial weeks as PM.
This week Key was again kneecapped for being too slow to react to public opinion and get the stranded Kiwi tourists out of Bangkok. The real question surely should have been what has gone so wrong at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that our Thai embassy didn't have contingency plans in place to cover any evacuation need?
It was, as Cabinet ministers are finding in many areas of the public service, a "buggers' muddle" - the product of an environment where officials have got so used to second-guessing Cabinet ministers that their capacity for independent action has been stymied.
As Key gathers experience he will learn how to deflect such criticism by challenging journalists to focus on the real issues rather than the ephemeral, and ensure responsibility for major stuff-ups is sheeted home to the relevant officials.
It now seems clear that his honeymoon with news media will be a brief one. But his honeymoon with the business sector will endure.
This was obvious on Thursday night when Key gave senior business players an insight into the challenges his Government is confronting during his address to the Deloitte/Management Magazine Top 200 awards celebration.
He kicked off with a personal note, relating how his 13-year-old son, Max, had accompanied him earlier that night to meet David Beckham ("Politics is actually 'way cool' Dad") but bypassed the opportunity to come on to the business event. Hard-bitten business types found Key's boyish exuberance rather endearing and laughed with him.
But they were silent and absolutely focused when he spelt out the difficulties his Cabinet faced with the major deterioration in the Government's books. They drank in his words as he pledged to make the economy his "No 1, No 2, and No 3 agendas".
He was clearly in his element, speaking as he does best without prepared notes and obviously on top of his material. He wanted to provide the private sector with the right signals so they would invest and make New Zealand a success. But he also warned that business would not get everything it wanted ("there is this thing called politics").
Throughout the evening Key worked the floor talking with corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, lawyers and accountants seeking feedback, empathising with their own business realities and quietly building the confidence which he sees as the major issue at this point of the international financial crisis.
Talking with such leaders it was apparent that they believe the public service is ill-equipped to provide Key's Cabinet with the strong intellectual leadership now required to ensure skilful responses as the crisis morphs into different phases.
But while the difficulties are acknowledged, there also seemed to be a willingness by business to engage and do its bit to get the economy humming again. This is a major plus.
Key's easy style is a marked contrast with Clark's more forceful demeanour. Clark flatly refused her initial invitation to speak at the awards night in 2000, one year after becoming Prime Minister. The event organisers got Olympic rowing gold medallist Rod Waddell to speak on leadership in her place.
But after Clark realised relations had broken down between her Government and the business sector in what became known as the "Winter of Discontent", she personally phoned Deloitte three weeks out from the event and said she would make the speech.
I wrote then that when Clark finally has time to pause and reflect on the year's achievements, "she ought also to consider how much easier it will be for all of us to reach our First World ambitions if the Government takes business with it".
Thankfully, there is no need for business to teach our current Prime Minister how to suck eggs.
