Under Labor, elites will remain irrelevant (hopeful signs from Australia's new PM)

The Australian ^ | 27th February 2008 | Janet Albrechtsen

[naturalman1975]

IT happened sooner than expected. The so-called progressive Left has given Prime Minister Kevin Rudd his riding instructions. Conveniently gathered in a single book entitled Dear Mr Rudd, Australia’s leading left-wing voices offer a blueprint of what they expect from the Rudd Government. On climate change, the economy, human rights, the republic, water and so much more, each letter to Rudd is, according to the blurb, “passionate and imaginative”. No doubt true.

One hates to be the bearer of bad news, but the left-wing letter writers are destined for disappointment. So disappointed that in three years they will be joining forces for a new book called Not Happy, Kev. All the signs suggest that Rudd is more interested in what Joe Public thinks than the pleadings, no matter how passionate, of the Left.

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If nothing else, hope springs eternal. And you can understand the excitement of these “leading Australian thinkers” (that too is from the blurb). It’s twofold. First, John Howard is gone. Their hatred for Howard was due to the fact the cultural landscape changed so fundamentally despite their unrelenting opposition.

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The second cause for excitement is their misunderstanding about Rudd. The Left became understandably delirious when he signed Kyoto and apologised to indigenous people. But if they imagine that these actions herald the return of symbolism over pragmatism, their hopes will be dashed. Rudd did not become Mr Me-Too during last year’s election because he revered Howard. He appropriated conservative policies because, being the ultimate pragmatist, he recognised that the centre of Australian politics is, and will remain, profoundly conservative.