The press, including Maxine McKew, have taken it upon themselves to insult the voters of Bennelong.
To suggest, as some pundits have done, that people in the PM's electorate would make a decision that fundamentally affects the future direction of this country on the basis of whether they would be inconvenienced by a by-election down the track is insulting to the people of Bennelong. Honesly, do these poll-watching pundits really think so little of people? I bet the PM doesn't.
According to the Australian he's been 'bogged down' (paraphrasing as I can't find their front page article on line) in his own seat for the last week sureing up support as Rudd has begun his faux campaign hopping around the marginals in the east. Howard will have chosen to start in Bennelong before the camaign proper and so he can focus on local concerns and maintiain the relationships that have kepts him the member there as long as ... well, forever.
Once that is done he will say to the people of Bennelong that unlike McKew, he is the elected representative of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and he has to speak to the whole nation. The nation includes the people of Bennelong and the issues Howard will address will affect them as much as any local ones, if not more. He will be speaking to his constituents indirectly and they will listen.
Essentially Howard will have to say, "I wish I could be here more but in the interests of the Nation I will be campaigning thoughout the country. That might put me at a disadvantage at home but I would sooner the government won and I lost my seat, than I retain my seat and have my goverment lose and my work undone. I am willing to put Australia ahead of my own self-interest. Are you?" (or is it that I can see that Australias interest are aligned with my own, and by serving them i serve myself best?)
To suggest that Bennelong residents are so petty as to vote Howard out because he could not set aside enough baby kissing time in Eastwood shopping mall is indicative of the sleazy spin that poll-obsessed political admen put on everthing. They see people as a set of buttons to be pushed. Howard knows that it's the convictions that tie him to his constituents, in Bennelong and the nation as a whole. These are people with opinions and gut-feelings and the ability and desire to make their own decisions.
Why is it the Left is so insulting to the average Joe whom they claim so publically to represent?
McKew has had the nerve to suggest that Asian voters in Benelong would be more likely to vote against Howard because they 'might think they have not been made to feel as welcome as they might have been' under a coalition goverment (paraphrasing again) . My Grandparents used to live in Benelong, Eastwoodto be precise, and i've spent many weeks of my life riding a bike around this leafy 'burb. It's an aspirational Asian enclave if ever i have seen one. About half the residents are Asian and really well off. Lots of cars in the driveway. Why would they feel 'unwelcome' having led prosperous lives in a great economy in a law-abiding environment with political freedoms (unlike China). Oh yeah and did i mention state subsidised tertairy education and equal opportunities for the female kids. There are plenty of really quite hot young Asain women driving those cars in the driveway to Uni and back. Welcome folks. The more the merrier.
Why is it that The ALP thinks that everyone who is not a WASP wants to vote for them? Why do they project their own class envy onto everyone else? 'Don't you hate the Liberals and their Mercides Benzes as much as us?' they ask the Chinese entrepreneur, whose car in the driveway is more than likely a Mercedes Benz. The hard-working law-abiding elders-respecting ethos of conservative politics is WAY more in line with the values of just about every immigrant community than the ALP's values of business-bashing, criminal-sympathising, surrendering and pot-legalisation.
Oh, but wait. My lefty friends end every argument by saying that Howard is racist because he did not put the solidiers who dressed up as Klansmen for a pissup on front of the firing squad. For McKew to suggest that the Asian migrant community in Bennelong would vote against Howard because he could have made them feel 'more welcome' is to belittle them by inferring they see themselves as a downtrodden minority. It is pandering to people's baser instincts of envy and weaker instinct of seeking sympathy, rather than giving them enough credit to see themselves as fulling contribing and important community members, integrated into the fabric of a society where they are happy to live. It's not racist to insist that we obey the same laws and speak the same language. It is racist to bring all hell to pay against any white person who strays from the PC script for a second. Only white people get this scrutiny and that's mostly because we can all understand what they are sayin'.
McKew's remarks suggest the the Asian community cares more about gesture politics than results. Asian immigrants are all about getting ahead and going places. They are going to look at what's in it for them and they are going to vote for the person who can best protect the prosperity they came to this country to enjoy. They are not going to vote for a person who sucks up to the President of China by talking Mandarin. Many of these people fled China for economic and political reasons. Besides, everyone from Hong Kong, and most, or at least half, of the Chinese diaspora speak Cantonese anyway. They understand Rudd just as much as the rest of us, i.e. not at all. If you order a Steamed Pork Bun it's Char Siu Bao in any Cantonese-speaking restaurant in Australia (which they all are). If you try and order this in Beijing lord know's what you'll get. How do I know this? Because I worked for an oil company with a bloke from China and I asked them over a meal. I asked much more interesting and tuned-in questions than any timid PC lefty at my work. The Chinese guy respected me more because of my straight talking. Same goes for Howard I reckon.
