So Howard blinked in the discussions over the leadership. Big Deal. It's testimony to his nerve that he didn't claw his own eyes out in response to the polls. He's made a promise to move on which most of us pretty much expected him to do next term anyway. In a way it gives bit of ammo to the opposition but the recent contary-to-promises departure of Labour State Premiers has insulated him from most of this flak. It's not uncommon or unrealistic to affirm that you will at some point leave office. Tony Blair did the same thing before the last British election. We all know that US presidents only serve two terms. The promise of renewal that the pundits say the voters want is now there. They can have it now if with Rudd, or they can wait a little bit more and be cautious with the nation's future.
From the number of times he's said it in the last 24 hours it's clear that Peter Costello thinks that 'team' is spelled with an 'I'. Well it is when you spell it TEAM AUSTRALIA!!! You have to admit that Howard looks and makes decisions like mentor Spotswood from the movie of similar name. Kevin Rudd with his glasses, language skills and ambition to be a Socialist Dictator could be mistaken for Kim Jong Ill. "My pran is working perfectry. Worrd domination is inebitabrrr". Can someone please draw this up as a cartoon?
The team angle is good for 2 reasons. Firstly, Rudd's team is a joke. Wayne Swan? Julia Gillard? Sheah, Raaiiigght. Sadly it's joke we've all heard too many times over this year. It's not funny anymore, at least not ha ha funny. The second reason why a team approach is good is that any way to tap into Costello's famous wit and furious ambition for the benefit of the party/team/nation is fine by me. We need an energetic campaign and we need to mercilessly tear apart Rudd's and his team's credibility. Sorry, what I meant to say was we need to talk about our plans for the future. For $#@* sake. We all know what the Liberal's plan for the future is, DONT GO BACK THE THE PAST!
Costello can attack Rudd on economics, but this election is about values as much as hip-pockets. Howard represents mainstream Australian values better than anyone. It's his job to convince Australia that the cringe is over and workplace reform is all part of the plan for boosting our confidence and getting a grip on the reality of global competition. Gimme summa dat Aspirational Nationalism. Rudd has got some nerve claiming that Howard is the man of the past when all his ideas are backward-looking 60's-inspired lefty economic and moral prejudices.
GIVE 'EM HELL, TEAM AUSTRALIA! All free-thinking Australians put our trust in you.
