Post by PeterB on Aug 31, 2010 10:27:02 GMT -4
Cheers. Thanks for that.
Regarding Julia Gillard, 
All of a sudden, this intelligent, incisive, principled left winger came across as a sordid, ambitious opportunist. there is something about her that made me cringe every time I saw her on TV. I don't know exactly what it was, but she seemed to be very egotistic, opinionated, patronising and uptight. Perhaps a tanty-thrower, which apparently Kevin Rudd is, I was surprised to hear.
She reminded me greatly of our first female Prime Minister here in New Zealand, Jenny Shipley, who got into power the same way -- by rolling the existing PM. She visibly simmered all the time and was also a tanty-thrower. Thank God she didn't last because she also made me cringe.
On the other hand, our first elected female Prime Minister, Helen Clark, did an excellent job and was one of our better Prime Ministers, in my opinion. The only (minor) gripe I had about her was that she must have graduated from the John Wayne School of Diction.
She reminded me greatly of our first female Prime Minister here in New Zealand, Jenny Shipley, who got into power the same way -- by rolling the existing PM. She visibly simmered all the time and was also a tanty-thrower. Thank God she didn't last because she also made me cringe.
On the other hand, our first elected female Prime Minister, Helen Clark, did an excellent job and was one of our better Prime Ministers, in my opinion. The only (minor) gripe I had about her was that she must have graduated from the John Wayne School of Diction.
Well, one thing which stands out about Gillard is her accent. Like many children of immigrants, her native accent is extremely broad (I've read similar things about the children of immigrants in New York). In fact, when she visited a school in the USA, the students couldn't understand her, and asked if she spoke English.
I don't think she has the qualities you see in her, but obviously I've never seen her up close. My wife says that she was one of the best ministers she's ever worked for - that she has a sharp mind and strong sense of social justice. But I suppose these two sets of qualities aren't necessarily exclusive.
As for Rudd, yes, he very soon earned a reputation for being a tanty-chucker and potty mouth. There was the incident on a RAAF VIP flight when he supposedly reduced a RAAF stewardess to tears because the galley didn't have the special meal he wanted. There are also many other examples of him using bad language, in the party room and in his private office.
Now bad language doesn't bother me in itself - I've worked with plenty of people whose language would make a sailor blush (and then take notes). Rather, it's the hypocrisy of behaviour like that when contrasted with his very public Sunday church attendances, after which he was happy to talk to the media.
But he seems to have had a few other faults - obsessive micromanagement *, petty vindictiveness * and a chronic lack of sleep. You have to ask how it would affect someone's performance at running the country when he gets three hours sleep a night.
* Stories available on request.
