Australia is one of the best countries in the world, and we have elections every three to four years to choose a person to lead us, to make our democratic decisions, and to put forward a face on our behalf to all other nations. This is an important role, a role that helps define how we are seen by other countries, and how seriously we are taken by others.
So how did we choose a man who eats his own earwax, makes up fantastical stories about world leaders to bignote himself, insults the memory of a man unable to defend himself (point 14), and is also known for being so sensitive that he threatens the media if they are set to publish a story unfavourable to Rudd’s account of his family history?
Well, there are probably a few reasons. The main one being that Generation Y can now vote. This isn’t the same bunch of young adults who creamed Mark Latham at the last election, this is an entirely new breed. A breed that gets bored easily, that being one of the reasons they are so difficult to employ. This breed however, grew up with John Howard being Prime Minister. Many of them would have been 8 or 9 when Howard was first elected Prime Minister, and they felt too familiar with him. Time for a change, and all that other hopey-changey stuff. Kevin Rudd was new, they hadn’t seen him plastered all over the news (at the time, anyway!) and they didn’t know what a media whore he was (and still is).
But now we have a Prime Minister who cannot handle simple criticism, and who has to lie about conversations to make himself feel important, who has to whitewash* over his family history, and who is, to be frank, rather embarrassing at international (and national) events. He seems incredibly insecure to me. His salute to George W. Bush in Bucharest in Romania while attending NATO talks was a poorly thought-out (if any thought went in anyway) idea, revealing a “heated” discussion between Bush and Putin was just disgraceful, and he further compounded what a poor choice both the Labor Party Room and the Australian electorate made when he told a completely fictional account of a private conversation with George W Bush, which he now denies doing. The White House has a different official account of that conversation, and I’m going to go along with the White House.
*And speaking of whitewashing, how’s this for “skimming over the facts”?
The Tizona Group 
November 19, 2008, 5:42 pm at 5:42 pm
A partial solution is to raise the voting age to one at which most voters will have had some real life experience – say about 30 (40?).
I was amused by Andrew Bolt’s recent post on the White House’s snub of Rudd (although this is a bit worrying from our national point of view).
November 19, 2008, 9:16 pm at 9:16 pm
I don’t know bgc, there are some quite astute 20 somethings out there, some of whom have had quite a deal of life experience. Voting idiotism can cover a lot of age groups, you might have seen this recent video of Obama voters from Zogby
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8&eurl=http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/
(via Jawa Report )
So I’m not sure it’s an age thing.
That said, my 18 yo daughter voted for KRudd, so I would go with people over twenty, lol.
November 20, 2008, 1:43 am at 1:43 am
This is what I don’t get about the folks, namely over at Bolt’s, either defending Rudd or making light of the situation. This is not a Left/Right thing. This is not a popular v unpopular thing.
This is about one world leader betraying the confidence of another world leader, three in fact, Putin, Hu and Bush (Bush twice so far).
All four leaders are representatives of their respective offices.
And Rudd has betrayed that idea of office, and what it means.
Is there some conspiracy theory I’m missing here?
November 20, 2008, 3:40 pm at 3:40 pm
Tim, I would suggest it’s not age, but more the right types of experience. Such as a 32 year old dole bludger is more likely to vote on who will throw more money at the unemployed than a 22 year old with a well paying job, who would look at who will decrease all the stuff associated with cost of living expenses and taxes.
November 20, 2008, 3:42 pm at 3:42 pm
Bing, the fact that Rudd betrays their confidence is going to have such a lasting impact on how Australia is seen internationally. From the moment he first spilled, he was labelled a man who will release the stuff that other nations don’t want to leak themselves. We shouldn’t be seen that way, but thanks to the talking wimp, we will now.
That said, John Howard would have been caught dead before he even considered thinking about leaking some of the stuff Kevin does. He just wouldn’t have done it, because he knew the effect it would have had, particularly with the hostile media watching him.
November 20, 2008, 8:44 pm at 8:44 pm
I have to agree with you there Ash, the examples you used point out a flaw in my arguement, I should have thought more about what I was saying.
And also, I should say that my daughter was 18 at the time the election was held, she’ll come good, lol.