I don't blame him for posting, and I don't disagree with him, either. Up to a point. To put it more laterally, I partly agree with him. And that pretty much cuts to the chase of this particular blog. Mind you, that's not what I'm about to do, quite just yet.
Today was an incredible day for Australian politics. It was an incredible day for Labor supporters, too - of which I am one - but I hardly think that partisan politics should be the singular lens through which today's events are viewed. The circumstances may not be ideal with regards to one's ideal vision of history, but nothing should detract from the fact that after more than a century, a woman is Prime Minister of Australia. To any one who thinks this is anything other than wonderful news, I cordially invite them to join us in the twenty-first century, just as soon as they learn to walk without dragging their knuckles.
That a change of national leader can occur without the direct input of the entire nation would be cause for concern if it were not actually cause for celebration. Our system of goverment, whilst all too inevitably reduced to a cult of personality, is actually a system of Party, rather than personage. We choose to elect a particular group of people to run our Governments, not a single figure. The group of people we elect subsequently get to choose who gets to lead them. If one has issues with the process that has recently occurred, then their gripe is surely with those who drafted our consitution, rather than with those who enacted its rights. And really, those same disgruntled souls - if they are students of history - have had more than enough precedent upon which they could have acted by now.
Given that we have a Prime Minister, rather than a President, that which has occurred - whilst exceptional - is hardly abnormal, let alone unconstitutional. What's actually of more interest are the factors that lead to the demise of - at least for a short time - of one of Australia's most popular leaders.
When Kevin Rudd was elected in November, 2007, I was elated. I made no attempt whatsoever to hide the fact from the friends of mine who happened to be over the night he was swept to power. (It was coincidentally the night on which I celebrated my birthday.) Other than ridding Australia of a large number of unnecessary firearms, there was nothing about John Howard that I could stand. I, like many others, pinned considerable hopes upon the Premiership of Kevin Rudd.
I now wonder if, from the outset, we hoped for too much. In little over two years, he achieved some great things. (And if you don't think saying sorry to the Stolen Generations was a great thing, please don't whine when I set fire to your Australian Flag; because, after all, symbols don't matter.) He also navigated through the GFC, and via his intensive focus on matters global, enhanced Australia's position on the world stage. But he had a worrying habit of alienating people whilst he did these things. Always loquacious, the eloquence he displayed during the campaigns - and early in his term - quickly gave way to terse verbosity. The man of the people - in his fervent desire to get on with working for them - seemed not to have time for them. At least, not in the opinion of the media. And once he lost them, he was, to quote a great Australian film-maker, Warren Perso, a shot bird.
And so, he's been ousted. I genuinely do not believe that an Australian Prime Minister has ever been held to a higher standard. I'm not sure it's a sky-high moral standard to which he's been held, but that's small potatoes, really, now that he's been replaced. The fact is, though, now matter how much his detractors may carp, no one in their right mind could call Rudd corrupt or lazy. Those from the other side of the aisle might call him misguided or irresponsible - as is their right - but then exercising the right to govern as one sees fit is a right that comes with the new postal address, and in fact, not to excercise that right is to fail to govern at all. And anyone who thinks Rudd failed to give it his best shot is either blind or stupid, as far as I'm concerned.
But the Labor Government will press on, and the electorate will decide which Party - and yes, which leader - it wants in charge of things. And it is here that I differ somewhat from my colleague. I do believe there is a divide between Labor and Liberal; and that divide is ideological. It is not the traditional divider, but one that is even more profound; it is a divide between optimism and pessimism.
I've lived on this earth for long enough for young people to call me old, so I've got enough years under my belt to say with some authority that I'm yet to meet a person who considers themselves a Liberal supporter who doesn't fit the stock-standard definition of a pessimist, a cynic or a would-be elitist. (Some hide it well, but it's always there.) Liberal voters expect the worst of people, and think the best approach is to try and guard against their version of the world going to hell in a hand-cart by undermining the most suspect people in society; namely, the disenfranchised. They speak glowingly of the restorative (if not inspirational) powers of the free market, without giving a moment's pause to consider the contradiction in the term. It is a edict of self, and those who espouse it are all the poorer for doing so.
In contrast, the Labor side of politics still has the ability to put ideals back into ideology; which is far, far harder than espousing the rhetoric of ruination. Tony Abbott has mastered the negative sound-bite. He's the bitterest fortune cookie you'd could ever have the misfortune of picking. An irony, given Rudd's incomprehensible statements of hope, expressed in grammatically perfect Mandarin. (Abbott probably eats them - mandarins, not fortune cookies - prior to donning the smugglers - or maybe shoves a couple in the smugglers - but that's about it, I'd reckon.)
It may sound like I'm suggesting that the Labor side of things is perfect, but I'm not. The sooner Labor manages to break free of Unionist influence, the better. But that's a fight from within, not from without. And we'll win it, too. Why? Because I say so. And that's the crux of this post and its title; optimism and pessimism extist as potential drives within all of us at all times. I choose to believe. All genuine ideology loses traction in the mire of reality, but you choose to keep going, or you don't. To quit should be to forfeit the right to complain, but instead, it's called the Liberal Party in its present state. To expect anything else than for there to be struggle between dream and reality is to forgoe ideals for delusion.
There is, I believe, a desire to move forward with progressive (rather than regressive) change that is embodied by the Left of politics that has always - and will always - elude the Right. (The Labor/Green debate is for a different blog, but I'll get there one day.) I have always seen Labor as the Party of Attack, and Liberal as the Party of Pre-Emptive Strike. And if you understand the difference, then chances are, we'll get along. Frankly, I don't have the energy to devote to living my life with the kind of paranoid, defensive, insular, wowserish, coin-obsessed despair it seems to take to be a Liberal loon. And I never curse when I blog, but thank I FUCK for that.
And to that end, I raise a glass to the Kevin Rudd and say, I'm sorry things ended this way, but I am proud of the dignity with which you've departed. And I hope you stick around. Some choices you made still rankle - ETS flip = WFT? - but you had a red-hot crack, and I defy anyone to say they could have done better.
To Ms Gillard, I proudly toast you, our new Prime Minister, and I offer the hope that you and Mr Rudd can work together. If you can demonstrate to the Australian people that in spite of some destabilising bumps along the road that you can cohere for the good of the Government and the nation, then you are the living embodiment of a consititution that all too readily gets barely acknowledged.
Gillard noted on the 7:30 Report - to Kerry O'Brien's amusement - that today was a great day for redheads. She'd been PM for six hours.
Let's give this woman a chance.
And to that end, I raise a glass to the Kevin Rudd and say, I'm sorry things ended this way, but I am proud of the dignity with which you've departed. And I hope you stick around. Some choices you made still rankle - ETS flip = WFT? - but you had a red-hot crack, and I defy anyone to say they could have done better.
To Ms Gillard, I proudly toast you, our new Prime Minister, and I offer the hope that you and Mr Rudd can work together. If you can demonstrate to the Australian people that in spite of some destabilising bumps along the road that you can cohere for the good of the Government and the nation, then you are the living embodiment of a consititution that all too readily gets barely acknowledged.
Gillard noted on the 7:30 Report - to Kerry O'Brien's amusement - that today was a great day for redheads. She'd been PM for six hours.
Let's give this woman a chance.
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