Saturday, November 24, 2007

What Is the Meaning of Jack Howard's Defeat in Australia?

Bush's "Deputy Sheriff" has lost his badge and his seat.

Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd is Australia's new prime minister after defeating John Howard's Liberal-National coalition in Saturday's parliamentary election.

How can this have happened?


Howard is dismissed after his 11-year reign (four straight elections from March 1996) leaving a booming economy and an iron grip on national security and illegal immigration?

Consider:

  • Howard's reforming Australian employment laws, making it easier for employers to sack workers and promoting individual work contracts instead of union-based award conditions.
  • Disgruntled voters in Australia's biggest cities, with job security falling while house prices and home mortgage interest rates rise.
  • His decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in the face of a record-setting Australian drought.
  • His close political and personal affiliation with Bush and Howard's decision to join the 2003 war on Iraq which led the media to describe Howard as Bush's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
Political analyst Nick Economou told Reuters:
Howard has had some successes in managing a prosperous economy. But then they made a major error by instilling insecurity in people at a time of prosperity.
Does this sound familiar?

7 comments:

  1. To Aussies, Jack Howard is a man seen as “the Rodent” and as “the unflushable turd”. They see the same smarmy arrogance, the same smirking ignorance, the same congenital liar and the same cock-sure disregard for others. Same ol' same ol'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also, Poland:

    Signaling a rapid about-face after last month's parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged Friday to end Poland's military deployment in Iraq in 2008 and said his nation would engage in more "dialogue" with its neighbors before accepting a U.S. missile defense system on Polish soil.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OK, so why couldn't we get rid of our smarmy, arrogant, smirking, ignorant, psychopathic liar?

    People get the government they deserve. Apparently, the Australians know they deserve better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to see new leadership after 11years of rule by the coalition. Time will tell how effective the Labor party and Kevin Rudd are in government but the situation looks promising at this stage.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stella, Some people are just too stupid to realize that hangin’ out in the ‘Bush’ is certain to boomerang.

    ReplyDelete