Howard's Way
Last week, I ran into John Howard for the first time since election night in 2007, when, outside a ballroom scattered with discarded, half-drunk flutes of champagne, I confronted him with a conversational opening gambit that to this day makes me wince.
My mother-in-law is an enthusiastic fan of the former prime minister, and was a near neighbour in north Sydney long before he became leader of the Liberal Party. So I passed on her commiserations, and then told him that her youngest daughter - who in her early teens had once served drinks at her parent's party fund-raisers - had recently agreed to marry me.
"What?" shouted the departing prime minister through the lip-shrill chatter of crest-fallen party loyalists. I repeated what I said, this time with less conviction, and got in return a look of puzzlement and a grunt of faint recognition. Then he moved past me to yet another Liberal diehard keen to tell him he was the greatest prime minister that Australia had ever had. I, meanwhile, retreated - wondering whatever possessed me to inject a note of personal happiness on a night of such abject political despair.
Last week, at a lunch organised by constitutional monarchists, John Howard seemed happier to be confronted by reporters. Indeed, he seemed to relish the exposure, for it was just like old times. With a thicket of microphones in front of him, he gave a robust defence of Australia's present constitutional arrangements - he is a true Burkean conservative, in the sense that he wants to preserve all that he deems workable and good, and is suspicious of unwarranted change - and his government's approach to asylum seekers. "We stopped the boats," he said with obvious pride.
Last week, he also sat down with the Sydney Sunday Telegraph and gave a more expansive interview in which he unleashed on Kevin Rudd. He branded his successor a "do nothing" prime minister who was all about spin and symbolism. He claimed that he had bungled the response to the surge in the number of boat people trying to reach Australian shores and had achieved little since becoming prime minister almost two years ago.
"The Rudd government comes up very short," said the former prime minister. "I can't think of a major thing it has done, except spent the bank balance that Costello and I left behind. Nothing else."
Howard was effectively accusing Kevin Rudd of political cowardice, which is a criticism you hear increasingly from supporters as well as a partisan detractors. Kevin Rudd continues to enjoy what, by normal standards, are stratospheric approval ratings (an average over the past two years of 68%), yet he has not leveraged much of that personal popularity by championing unpopular issues.
On climate change, as Mr Howard noted, his emissions trading scheme is close to what the Coalition was proposing at the last election, with cautious cuts and targets. He has done nothing to advance the republic, another contentious issue where he risks alienating the swing suburbs. The stimulus package was centred on generous cash hand-outs - a giveaway injection. After the symbolism of his much-vaunted "Sorry", indigenous groups have wondered what he intends to do to close the gap between white and black Australia. On the boat people, he has emphasised the toughness of his policies, rather than setting out the case for compassion.
The conventional wisdom is that Kevin Rudd is a poll-driven prime minister rather than a principle-driven national leader. His focus is on day-to-day managerialism rather than bold, long-term vision. Last week saw an interesting example of this. On the eve of a bad poll coming out, which showed Labour's lead over the Liberals had plunged, Kevin Rudd went on a media blitz with five hastily-arranged afternoon radio interviews and an appearance on ABC's 730 Report, one of the few truly national early evening news programmes. The prospect of a bad poll had apparently produced .
Even many detractors of John Howard would concede that he was politically bold and daring, from his decision to back gun controls early on to the introduction of the GST, Australia's initially unpopular sales tax. Howard clearly thinks his successor is something of a political wimp. So is he right? Has Kevin Rudd emerged as a do-nothing prime minister?
PS: I found it hard to suppress a wry smile when Jonny Wilkinson slotted over a drop goal - or field goal, as they are called in Australia - in the early stages of the England/Australia game at Twickenham over the weekend. Memories of 2003. But Australia ended up on top, deserved winners with two tries to zip. Viewers in Britain might have wondered why so many Aussie players were sporting such pathetic, post-pubescent moustaches, some of which looked in danger of being blown away in the south-west London winds. It is, of course, , the month when thousands of men groom moustaches to highlight prostate cancer, depression and other male ailments. In the land of memorable, iconic moustaches - Dennis Lillee, Rodney Marsh, David Boon - they are carrying on a long, and great, Australian tradition. So all power to their whiskered upper lips...
I'm 
Comments
or to comment.