These infomercials have softened up the public nicely, but it's time for a sucker-punch that will knock some sense into them and remind them who knows their hearts better than anyone. Once this election campaign is called I hope that as well as the attacking of Rudd's weakness we get much more of the 'I'm John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia and I have the guts to say what you are all thinking.' None of us wants a return to the days of the PC 90's under Keating/Clinton. It was awful. You couldn't get laid without reciting Germain Greer first. Mental pollution corrupted all the strong and crushed all hope of a fun future. We all felt so guilty all the time. None of us wants THAT back. Not even the left. All my lefty mates love elitist jokes now. It's great! Back then we were all Pearl Jam fans. Now even lesbians like Gun'n'roses and Motley Crue! And why wouldn't they?
All the values issues are up for grabs in the campaign and Howard speaks for the vast bulk of us: drugs, porn, immigration, indigenous affairs, dole-bludging etc.
There is one issue that leaves huge room for conservative posturing and it's getting more headline space all the time: CRIME. After living in Britain for years I am amazed that crime is not a major election issue in this country. The fact that it is off the radar is proof that under Howard everything is pretty hunky dory. Honestly, Australian working families really have never been better off. But crime is on the rise for a number of reasons. My guess is rampant drug use and the emergence of lawless communities who are scared to talk to the police. Unfortunately the perception of racism on the force can isolate communites that don't feel part of the mainstream. Howard has been helping, or rather compelling for their own good, communities like this to integrate, learn english and feel at home. Rudd does not really have his heart in it. He may appear to be a small target on this issue but the Goverment has to wedge him.
The govt has to talk tough on crime but they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Each time they announce an innitiative no matter how radically conservative, Rudd just echoes the sentiment. It doesn't matter if the ALP backbenchers squeel. Rudd has them by the balls because of the polls. The only way for as wedge to succeed is for the goverment to stay silent so that Rudd gives his gut-reaction or the reaction he perceives will be best received and for the government to do the opposite. This requires some sort of event or the issue to come to a head.
If there are connections between the police union in Victoria, organised crime, gangland killings and drug-trafficing there would be a juicy way to kill serveral vultures with one stone. The Left in Melbourne is up to it's neck in it. There has to be something in this for the coalition.
Even if this is not the issue we need to see more of Howard and Costello the conservative mainstream values specialists. That is part of the core Liberal Party mantra. If Howard can hang on to the public's trust in this regard, and paint Rudd as an agent of the cultural left, here to lock you up for saying anything at all controversial, then maybe, just maybe he can win the public's trust back on IR.
The IR message is the same as the cultural message. We are all duty bound to pitch in for this great country. Dont act like a whinger and expect special treatment. Reagan was a union basher from way back, but the blue collar democrats loved him. He gave them hope for a prosperous free future, not a closeted guilty one. It's Morning in Australia. We all need to see that. We all need to say that. Rudd can do a passible impression of someone who gives a sh1t about this stuff, but he doesn't have it in the guts where it counts. You can't make the unpopular decisions without the conviction to see them through. I have a terrible feeling we will have to endure a Jimmy Carter before we get our Ronald Reagan.
I really hope Howard is saving up alot of his stuff for the last minute when Rudd cant repeat it in time. Johnny did not get to be PM for so long by not knowing why he is liked.
