Prime Ministers come and go, though rarely with the breathtaking finality of Kevin Rudd. Elected a mere two and a half years ago to popular acclaim, Mr Rudd maintained a high rating in the polls for almost two years before descending rapidly and apparently irredeemably. The ALP party meeting last Thursday acted swiftly and ruthlessly in deposing the King in favour of Julia Gillard, now Australia's first female Prime Minister.
One can't help but feel sorry for Mr Rudd. He had obviously worked extremely hard and probably felt he deserved a second term. It's hard to say where the failure begins, but an inability to sell Government proposals was certainly high on the list. Elected governments need to explain themselves and Rudd seemed caught in wilderness between being a diplomat on the one hand and a bland dispenser of cliches, on the other. There is no doubting his intellect and ability, but maybe the role of PM was a bad fit.
Julia Gillard is an entirely different creature. The near future will tell if her elevation to the top job was a stroke of genius or not, but I think she has a very good chance of beating the Coalition and certainly one led by Tony Abbott. An Abbott Government would mean another lurch to the right, a kind of resurrected Howard Government with the same hectoring, moralising tone. Of course, I'm all in favour of elected leaders setting a good moral example. Faith in the polity depends upon a certain level of ethical behaviour.
But Mr Abbott's shoot-from-the-mouth 'straight talk' is just a bridge too far, I think.
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