Decision making at the highest level...

Irrespective of the validity of the memo behind this; irrespective of who is trying to do what to whom; irrespective of anything else; there are two very important lessons being learned here.

The first is being learned by Joe Public. Here we have an absolute illustration of how far one government is prepared to go to protect itself and others.

If the record is accurate and factual, and the remark intended as stated, then the diplomatic and political fallout will obviously be immense. There are so many people who will want to follow that particular line on both sides I will leave it be.

If the statement was “a throwaway” as has been stated, then there is a NZ example which illustrates exactly how embarrassing these can be, and how quickly the hooha dies after.

There was a meeting, some months back – I may even have commented on it at the time – at which Brash Donnie and his then FA sidekick Quizmaster Lockwood Smith were meeting and greeting with US highups in Wellington. The question of ANZUS and the anti-nuclear legislation was raised. Brash Donnie was recorded by a MFAT official as stating that “it would be gone by lunchtime” if the National Party were to win the elections. To say the least, the fallout of that little exchange could have changed the course and outcome of the election. Certainly it resulted in some extremely red faces, from both rage and embarrassment. But there was a very valuable lesson learned by a comparatively novice politician – none other than Brash Donnie himself.

That brings us to the second lesson to be learned. It is the benefit of honesty in politics. Now to me (and probably most of you) that is a prime oxymoron. The two are (usually) mutually exclusive.

And that, dear readers, is why the occasional injection of candid honesty into an embarrassing situation can work wonders. It more often than not can turn a minor “oops” into a political plus. A simple “I stuffed up, and have learned the lesson” can work a miracle or two. Obviously, it does not pay to make the same mistake twice, nor to make too many too often.

Also as obvious is that the scale of the “oops” is important.

Being frank and open about a sexual peccadillo in the Oval Office might get you off dining at that particular feast of consequences.

There is no way that I can imagine America (the rest of the world can butt out for a moment) thinking kindly of a Presidential Statement announcing that the war in Iraq (for example) was a misjudgement and mistake. But to be frank about an aside to the effect that “I wish I could bomb the shit out of al Jazheera” and saying that it should never have been thought let alone said might, just might, make Joe American Public feel a little easier about things.