Hey Martin,
Far from being regarded as someone who can "speak directly to people,"
during his term as PM, Rudd was renowned for his use of convoluted
corporate buzzwords, being too smarty-pants elitist, and (almost
unforgivable in this country) speaking Mandarin. I preferred that
figure, I have to say - though I would never vote for him or the ALP.
But his conversion into an "ordinary family man" has had everything to
do with his decision this last year to adopt the same discourse that the
Liberal Party has in the lead up to a contest with Gillard. Namely, that
she is not "ordinary," which in this instance is conservative "dog
whistle" for her being "unmarried, childless, atheistic," -- ie, 'not
normal.' The matter of the "coup" simply feeds into this, not least
because I can't recall a leader of any party who has ascended to the
position without bitter internal conflict. Tony Abbott toppled Malcolm
Turnbull, Keating overthrew Hawke, it all seemed rather nasty but
routine. I don't see why Gillard's ascendancy should be regarded as any
different.
But you are right to hate the Labor Party for their policies on border
control, and you know my position on this. What this means, given that
the Liberals and Labor are indistinguishable on this question, is that
the former long ago realised that a contest about race and border
control would not deliver the affective mobilisation/opposition that one
around sex and gender would. Of course, racism and sexism are never
separable, but whereas in the US the Tea Party converges around
resentment and paranoia about a Black President, here the same strategy
is being configured in relation to a female Prime Minister. Whatever
Rudd's flaws are, I baulk not at the man but at the neoconservative
political strategy he and his campaign advisor/
best,
Angela
--
//angela.mitropoulos | http://s0metim3s.com |
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