Labor pains
So Crean pulled the pin. Now we’ve got a choice between Beazley, Latham and Rudd. Interestingly, the internet polls have Latham marginally in front, but it’s neck and neck. The Age has Beazley/Latham/Rudd at 32/34/33 per cent, and the SMH puts it at 20/22/19%.
Personally, I like Rudd. Not because I think he’s some kind of saviour, but because I don’t like Beazley and I loathe Latham. However as he’s the only one left that hasn’t announced his candidacy, so that may not even be an option. He’s certainly the underdog.
If it’s Latham or Beazley, I’ll be very pissed off.
UPDATE: Rudd’s out, and it looks like Beazley’s got the numbers. There are obvious problems with Beazley returning to the leadership, including the fact that Latham previously resigned to the back benches rather than serve under him. On second thoughts, that’s probably a good thing. The less influence Latham has on policy, the better. On balance, I think Beazley’s more likeable, he’s better in the media, and he argued against Latham’s “tax cuts for the rich” calls earlier this month.
It’s all over red rover, now that Rudd has pulled out. Beazley is a shoe in.
I don’t know about Rudd. Literally, I don’t know anything about him…he seems very “beige”, not unlike Simon Crean, really. I have to admit being a fan of Latham (in fact, most people I talk to are)…but really only as the leader of the opposition, where he can kick some ass but do no harm. I completely understand people’s fear of him ever actually becoming prime minister.
Personally I think Latham is a nightmare who belongs on the other side of politics where he might well rejuvenate some parts of the Liberal Party.
Beasley, as Mr Quiggin rather cruelly laid out, does not have a record for imagination and true leadership..
Dire times. If we are very unlucky we could end up with the kind of bland, unctuous and apparently empty laborism that Steve Bracks brings to Victoria. What does he stand for, besides continuing to cut stuff?
Which will leave us, in the next election, with the intriguing dilemma: do we want a prime minister who will lick Bush’s arse, or suck his dick?
But no, I don’t really have a lot of love for Latham either. He’s not a leader. The Labor party today seems to have very few obvious potential leaders. Rudd impressed me once or twice when he rose to prominence at the onset of the second Gulf War, but it soon became apparent he was only too happy to whore his principles for the sake of his ambition. Plus he’s inexplicably smug.
Personally, I was thinking of organising a road trip to go find a certain notorious pig farm and proposition its owner. Sure, his domestic policies were dodgy, and his relationship with Suharto was overly forgiving, but at least Keating recognised the impact of politics on long-term national identity — which is all I really care about in the whole sordid little game anyway.
Hoo boy do I sound disillusioned tonight.
Perhaps, Joseph, because you were merely “illusioned” to start with?