Yesterday's man can look forward to a hero's farewell (John Howard visiting the US)

The Australian ^ | 28th January 2008 | Peter Hartcher

[naturalman1975]

MOST of the former members of the Howard government are trying to distance themselves from their former leader. Yet in the US the former prime minister is being welcomed into the conservatives' mosh pit like an ageing rock star. He is going to the US late next month for several weeks in a long farewell. He has agreed to address at least four prestigious audiences, with more appearances yet to be arranged.

He is scheduled to speak to a private gathering of Republicans in Las Vegas. In Boston he will be hosted by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he will be made a Fisher Family Distinguished International Fellow and will address faculty and students over two days. In College Station, Texas, he is to deliver a speech at the George Bush Presidential Library. And in Washington, DC, he is to receive the big annual honour given by a prominent conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, which was the incubator for more than 40 officials of the Bush administration. In a nationally televised event and with a dinner audience of some 1500 people, Howard will give the Irving Kristol address, named in honour of the father of neoconservatism.

It looks likely that, within days of Howard's victory lap of the US in March, Kevin Rudd will arrive in the US on his first trip as Prime Minister. The former prime minister and the present one will be meeting many of the same people around the same time, including George W. Bush.

[Slapshot68]

Muslims, particularly in neighboring Indonesia, are salivating over the possibility of colonizing Australia.

Howard was an obstacle to that. He will be missed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Howard is a hero of Western Civ.