Ageing politics

I was rather taken aback by commentary that Malcolm Fraser's departure from the Liberal Party (see an interesting British commentary here) would not be terribly consequential as most voters wouldn't even remember the Fraser years.

To me the heady events of 1975 seem like yesterday. But, I suppose it was 35 years ago. And he was replaced by Hawke in 1983. (27 years ago!!)

If I had nothing better to do then I would look up the age composition of the electorate, but I suspect that the observation is probably true...that many many people do not register Malcolm as a political figure of any moment any more.

However, it is laughable to read the Guardian begin its little piece by saying "Fraser has been slowly sliding to the left for the last twenty years!!"...if Malcolm is left then Gough Whitlam is more to the left than Lenin..(some people would believe this!)

No, I think it is much more that the Liberal Party under Howard, and it looks even more so under Abbott, has lurched to the right and then some. Followed not far behind by the Labor Party.

Fraser's obvious disgust with this has been apparent for years. It is clear he held Howard in disdain, and it's noteworthy that Howard only ever came into his own after Fraser had well and truly left the scene. The days of the small 'l' liberal are well and truly over.

H is for

HOWARD, like Gough, was hated and adored . I have written too much about him in the last two years so follow the Tag and here if you want to see it through.
Unlike Gough, I think he lacked imagination, was a political opportunist who saw his role as to stay in power and therefore was poll driven rather than ideal driven. History will give us a better perspective, but I am interested how he seems to have fallen almost completely out of public view. One cannot see him having the same sort of humanitarian profile as a Malcolm Fraser, for example; I just think he could (and should) have been so much better.

F is for

FRASER who actually became quite a good thing in the end. Perhaps we shoudl all experience being caught with our pants down!

skirting the issue

AAP reports (here)

There are some policy places even Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd won't go.

One is whether his deputy owns a skirt.This "vital" election issue was raised by Bob, a farmer and talkback caller who preceded Mr Rudd in a long interview on the John Laws program on Southern Cross radio on Thursday.

Bob, a professed Liberal voter, said Julia Gillard was a communist, claiming he read that in the rural newspaper The Land, and queried whether she actually owned a skirt.

He also said she would end up running the country while Mr Rudd was off in China jabbering in Mandarin and asked why no Australian flag featured on stage during the Labor campaign launch on Wednesday.

What ever side of politics you are on you should be a little scared to realise that there are people, perhaps a lot of them, who just completely disregard the facts when making up their mind about who to vote for. Worse than this, they don't even begin to realise when they are talking insane rubbish.
It also goes on

Bob also wondered where was the Labor frontbench in place of former Labor prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating who were all present at the launch.

This at least made me think that there are heroes on the "left" in the way that there are not (currently) on the right. We all know that Malcolm is not a fan of little Johnny, but it is worth opining that John cannot muster the Frasers, the Peacocks, the et al (admittedly some are dead...but even the grand dames (their widows) didn't appear to be present) What this means I am not quite sure.
It is both a plus and a minus, as while Hawke , Keating and Whitlam are indeed significant figures they inspire not only admiration and dignity but also hatred and loathing. Have you ever stood next to a Liberal voter who speaks the word Keating!
To Rudd's credit his response to 'Bob' showed that he is good in choosing not to exploit this sort of meaningless rubbish, in a way that most others would not be able to resist

On the issue of the Labor frontbench, Mr Rudd said he believed it important to show proper respect to the former PMs, adding that all his frontbench were in attendance.

He said he believed it also important to be able to speak to a major trading partner.

"This is really important for Australia.

"If I can use whatever language skills I have go to boost the exports of Australian farmers to major emerging markets like China, let me tell you, I will yabber my way through any lunch speaking whatever language I can," he said.