What the ghosts of campaigns past – and Dirty Dancing – can teach the PM about the voice referendum

‘Anthony Albanese well understands the stakes, both for the country and for his own prime ministership. The road ahead is hard, and failure is almost too terrible to contemplate.’ Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

When I look at Anthony Albanese I see a prime minister surrounded by ghosts. Mostly this is a benign sensation. Ancestors and events leaving their imprint, either in wisdom or scar tissue, is a happier proposition than prime ministers too arrogant to learn.

Albanese has been learning the art of activism since his teens. He’s studied how leaders campaign to achieve (or fail to achieve) their objectives since the Whitlam era because he wants to inherit the hive mind.