state of mind: head hurts.
tune: kim carnes "bette davis eyes".
that maxine mckew announced her candidacy for a seat in the next federal election came as a surprise to me. that ms mckew chose to run for the seat of bennelong, the incumbent being none other than prime minister john howard, failed to surprise me at all.i assumed that ms mckew would bide her time as an adviser to kevin rudd, before perhaps moving into the political arena in earnest some time during the next term. i think the only smarter decision that could possibly have been made by ms mckew and mr rudd has been made.
the past couple of months has seen the usually intrasigent mr howard regularly on the defensive, making gaffes in and out parliament (e.g., barack obama being al-qaeda's president-of-choice), executing a few backflips that would have a chinese gymnast jealous (e.g., the planet is now getting warmer, but only in the last few weeks apparently), and, in his opponent's direction, slinging quite a bit of mud (e.g., "mr rudd's getting a bit up himself"), the likes of which the electorate has little time for. a prime ministership fraying at the edges perhaps?
what better time to throw in a distraction such as the preselection of a high profile candidate as his opponent in his own electorate. there is no better time, and this further shows that under mr rudd, the ALP is serious about winning government. on the three critical issues of election 2007 mr howard is losing traction - not the best time to be looking over his shoulder.
another distraction is yet to appear on the australian political radar. this september, australia plays host to the APEC summit. with an election likely either october or november, this is probably not the best time to be seen rubbing shoulders obsequiously with george w bush in silly hats. (american vice-president dick cheney's recent comments indicated that they are not interested in a sycophant anyway - the alliance is stronger than what mr howard's comments imply.) along with the barrage of climate change and social justice protesters likely to be in attendance and getting media coverage, this is not the sort of lead-in anyone would like for an election campaign.
but what of the value of this campaign to ms mckew (let's be honest, a return to a career in journalism seems unlikely now). without much persistence, it is highly likely that ms mckew will win
bennelong in the long run, and thus her candidacy at this election is a sideline distraction if not more. mr howard's time in the federal parliament is limited; it is very likely, even should he win bennelong and the wider election, that he will retire. a subsequent by-election would likely see ms mckew's ascendency to federal parliament. this fact has to at least annoy mr howard.keep the gaffes coming!
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images: public
1 comment:
I, like you, think Kevin Rudd is playing his cards pretty well. He's a very intelligent man, and his education policies are really attractive (though Stephen Smith is questionable as minister)...
That pic, you have, I saw it in the paper the other day and I thought he looked quite evil. I do have to say he looks very cute for his age....
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