In a serious blunder John Howard has revealed how much his national security credentials have been undermined by the elevation of Kevin Rudd, the Iraq fiasco and the anti-war mood in the US.
It is an extraordinary attack on a potential US president. Such comments tie Howard more closely to President George W. Bush when the American people are deserting him. They tie Howard more closely to Bush's present Iraq strategy that is certain to be opposed by whoever becomes the Democratic Party's nominee. Paul Kelly The Australian
That’s one take on Howard’s extraordinary outburst aimed at Barak Obama.
I’m sure the Howard/Obama tiff had more play in Australia than elsewhere, so if Howard intended to shore up his mate George it was a dicey strategy.
Others suggest it was a well designed plan to shift domestic election year talk away from climate change and the growing water crisis.
Like Bush, Howard has always felt most comfortable on the Iraq/war on terror agenda. As one report puts it” Trust my courage under fire: PM
New Labor leader Kevin Rudd has been all over Howard on a number of fronts and is well ahead in the polls. This gave Howard the dubious opportunity to turn the tables, attack back.
Howard called Kevin Rudd gutless over Iraq, signalling he intends to crash through on this issue despite voters' increasing opposition to Australia's role in the conflict.
It is now up to how the voters see these conflicting issues. Iraq is certainly nothing to brag about, but attack could cloud the failures on that front. The emotive language, courage, gutless and more can be dragged out on these issues.
But there are still ongoing failures to address, including the domestic terror front where military weapons are still being seized around the country. How serious is the Howard government if they can’t keep their military hardware safely locked away?
4 comments:
Sounds like Howard's administration is really a mess. I'm certainly a bad judge as to whether the tiff with Obama got much play in the west since I've been sequestered to a hotel room, but CNN didn't mention it.
CNN actually did mention it, at least the American edition. I heard Ed Henry, WH Correspondent, report it on a Sunday afternoon. It definitely didn't get much play after that, but I bet it will come back into play as the campaign goes on. Still, I don't see how it hurts Obama that a clown like Howard (an energetic member of the ever-dwindling Bush Butt Plug Brigade!!!) criticizes him over Iraq when the Aussies have just a couple thousand troops in country themselves.
Hey, cartledge, when are you coming back?
RBE, as soon as I have acess to a computer for and decent length of time. I'm currentlly in Port Macquarie NSW and doing a bit on the state election campaign.
Post a Comment