This week's news that Mr Tony Blair is stepping down in June was not surprising, neither was it cause for celebration. In my opinion, his resignation speech should be considered one of the best political speeches in recent history and it is befitting of a great statesman that he is. The first part of his speech can be viewed here, while shown below is the second half of it (I know it takes a while to load but it's worth the wait).
I am always amazed by politicians and leaders like Mr Blair. For 10 years, as Prime Minister of the world's fifth-largest economy, he was a symbol of change and progress.
He presided over Britain's resurgence as a world leader via Britain's leadership of the EU and as a leading advocate for poverty reduction in the developing world. Likewise, the Britain today owes much to the "painful" economic reforms of the Labour party (although some credit goes to the previous Thatcherite administration): privatisation of state industries, trimming of pensions, fiscal prudence, opening the country to the forces of globalisation, keeping the Sterling out of the Euro zone, etc.
Today's Britain is now a sharp contrast to the Britain in the 1980s - strong and confident of the future.
What really makes Mr Blair special is his iron-strong will and his tough-as-nails determination to do what he thinks is right, regardless of public opinion. Yes, he did sent troops to Sierra Leone, Bosnia, and Afghanistan but when Iraq came, the public turned against him. Even his own Labour party members rebelled and called for his resignation.
In the face of such hostility, he blinked but he never faltered. In his speech, he said that "putting the country first does not mean doing the right thing according to conventional wisdom, or the prevailing consensus, or the latest snapshot of opinion. It means doing what you genuinely believe to be right."
And today, British soldiers fight and die alongside their American counterparts in Iraq, rightly or wrongly, in defence of a future. Love him or loathe him, one should admit that he certainly has the guts to do something so distinctly unpopular with the electorate. Where others would have pulled back immediately, Mr Blair proceeded with a vision and knowingly took the hammer to the face, in defence of his ideals and beliefs.
I am always amazed by politicians and leaders like Mr Blair. For 10 years, as Prime Minister of the world's fifth-largest economy, he was a symbol of change and progress.
He presided over Britain's resurgence as a world leader via Britain's leadership of the EU and as a leading advocate for poverty reduction in the developing world. Likewise, the Britain today owes much to the "painful" economic reforms of the Labour party (although some credit goes to the previous Thatcherite administration): privatisation of state industries, trimming of pensions, fiscal prudence, opening the country to the forces of globalisation, keeping the Sterling out of the Euro zone, etc.
Today's Britain is now a sharp contrast to the Britain in the 1980s - strong and confident of the future.
What really makes Mr Blair special is his iron-strong will and his tough-as-nails determination to do what he thinks is right, regardless of public opinion. Yes, he did sent troops to Sierra Leone, Bosnia, and Afghanistan but when Iraq came, the public turned against him. Even his own Labour party members rebelled and called for his resignation.
In the face of such hostility, he blinked but he never faltered. In his speech, he said that "putting the country first does not mean doing the right thing according to conventional wisdom, or the prevailing consensus, or the latest snapshot of opinion. It means doing what you genuinely believe to be right."
And today, British soldiers fight and die alongside their American counterparts in Iraq, rightly or wrongly, in defence of a future. Love him or loathe him, one should admit that he certainly has the guts to do something so distinctly unpopular with the electorate. Where others would have pulled back immediately, Mr Blair proceeded with a vision and knowingly took the hammer to the face, in defence of his ideals and beliefs.
I particularly find this line of his very meaningful - "The vision is painted in the colours of the rainbow and the reality is sketched in the duller tones of black, and white, and grey."
And this line as well - "Decision-making is hard. You know what everyone says about politics "listen to the people". The trouble is, they don't always agree. " (Note: Isn't this true in today's mass politics? =I )
So while Mr Blair brought "politics of conviction" to Britain, I do hope that his successors will have as much vision and passion as he is for Britain. And for the sake of the world too.
And this line as well - "Decision-making is hard. You know what everyone says about politics "listen to the people". The trouble is, they don't always agree. " (Note: Isn't this true in today's mass politics? =I )
So while Mr Blair brought "politics of conviction" to Britain, I do hope that his successors will have as much vision and passion as he is for Britain. And for the sake of the world too.
No comments:
Post a Comment