John Key’s response to his broken arm says a lot

I don’t agree with John Key’s political and economic ideology, and his stance on the anti-smacking law is despicable at best, but I will say this for him: he comes across as a nice guy.

Take his response to his broken arm: now he’s on TradeMe selling his signed cast to raise money for the charitable Fred Hollows Foundation. The auction has photos of John complete with cast and trademark smile. Yes it’s good publicity, but Key does give the impression that this is something that he’s enjoying.

Can you imagine Helen Clark appearing in a TradeMe auction to sell her cast, complete with very amateurish photos? I can’t recall Clark having any visible injuries while she was Prime Minister (apart from the permanent crippling of the Truth and Conscience appendages), but I imagine that if she did have a broken arm she’d keep it covered and tell her pet journalists to stop taking photos, in order to maintain her Mistress of the Universe image. If you can recall her reaction to a visible injury I’d be interested to hear about it.

Key is a Keynsian Socialist and therefore a public menace, but he’s a personable public menace.

How does Key come across to you?