John Howard the Prime Minister has done it again – he has pulled off another act to add to his “Honest John” reputation.
I first heard him speak when he was in the Opposition over 20 years ago, bushy eyebrows and all. His forte was his honesty and he really came across as someone you can trust, certainly a lot more than his opponents at that time, Andrew Peacock internally and Bob Hawke on the other side.
Of course honesty doesn’t always make you look good, as in the case of a murderer, for example, who confesses. This sort of honesty doesn’t exculpate. Unfortunately for the PM, this time it is this sort of honesty. He has now admitted to ganging up with Bush and Blair against Iraq to secure oil supply. I think he’s the first to so admit. Blair has stepped down, and Bush will too, soon. According to polls here, Howard will, before the year is out, join these alumni of ex-leaders who ganged up against and wrecked Iraq. However I don’t recall the other two admitting to oil supply as a reason for the terrible war.
Elections are due this year (and I have to vote – it is compulsory here) and many have assumed Labour under Kevin Rudd will romp in. Rudd is a bit of a Blair type – a smooth and suave communicator but not always solid on substance. Unfortunately there is no Gordon Brown in the Australian version of New Labour. In fact there aren’t too many solid candidates in Rudd’s shadow line-up (though not quite Malaysian cabinet standard, not by any means) so I’m not sure why Labour is ahead in the polls and is expected to win. I certainly don’t see the equivalents of a Costello or a Turnbull.
I don’t know if John Howard’s latest act of honesty was driven by any attempt to regain lost electoral grounds. Maybe he is going to announce the elections soon. I haven’t read the context of the admission as I only caught one of those Beeb one-liner news items (see earlier entry). I will of course, look it up and there will no doubt be op-ed pieces on it in the next few days. The interesting thing is the openness of a leader who has again demonstrated that doing the right thing in the here and now has its place, no matter how much damage has been done in the past. Maybe it is a sort of confession on his part, knowing his days are now numbered. Either way, there’s a lesson somewhere for some leaders in other parts of the world.
Ante 