Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Should Luxon rip the band-aid off?

It is election year, of course, and I reckon we should get this thing over and done with quickly.

Let's rip the band-aid off - Luxon should go to the polls early.

The argument's always been - and we talked about this a lot last year -  that they should wait till November, go late, let the economy recover.

Make sure people feel the recovery and not just hear about it and read about it in the newspapers, but I think the political calculation has changed over the summer break.

Luxon's grip on National, and the coalition more generally, has always been pretty weak, let's be honest. He struggles for cut-through. His colleagues are only really keeping him there because instability looks worse than his performance.

This doesn't mean he's doing a terrible job. Inflation is coming down, recovery is underway, education is being dealt to, as is crime, this is good.

But politics isn't always about facts, much as it should be. Because it's also vibes, isn't it? And it's been seen to be bold and be strong.

Now, Jacinda Ardern - you won't like this, some of you - but a lot of people did. Initially, when she shut the borders, when she closed the country, it was bold. People liked it, it projected strength and it showed us who was boss.

Of course, it all fell apart, but the principle of leadership is the same.

Luxon should be bold and go to the polls in late July or early August.

You can credibly claim a recovery is underway. You can say international events, you know, new tariffs, military action, these are unstable things and we need stability.

Put your money where your mouth is, show people that you actually believe the recovery is happening and you're willing to put your job on the line to prove it. Show some leadership, surprise people.

Use one of the few levers that you have as an MMP Prime Minister in a three-way coalition to put the willies up your opposition, up your opponents.

But more importantly, and crucially, cut in half the amount of time that will be spent this year bickering with your cabinet colleagues, Seymour and Peters, who are after oxygen, of course, and Bishop, et al, who are after your job.

The Māori Party is an absolute shambles, why give them more time to sort their act out?

If Luxon is not just sleepwalking into this election, he'd be wise to take advantage and show himself as a genuine player of the game, I think.

Being a good leader means knowing your limitations and your foibles. The question I'd be asking myself is whether a significant number of voters are going to miraculously warm to him between the months of July and November this year.

I think, given the poll trends, this is highly doubtful.

What they might not warm to, they may at least respect if he does the big boy bold move and heads to the polls with an autumn campaign season, give us some gumption.

We need a Prime Minister, not a Prime Manager.

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