A Change Down Under
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Australia | Foreign Affairs | John Howard | Kevin Rudd — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
It is disappointing to see that John Howard and the Liberal Party have lost the Australian elections. But by all accounts, they can hold their heads up high as having served the Australian people well and having bequeathed a sound and prosperous society to incoming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Iraq as an issue has gotten a lot of attention but it is important to note that the vast majority of attention paid by the Australian electorate was to domestic and economic issues. Australian troops will be withdrawn from Iraq but by all accounts, the nature of American-Australian relations will not change. It will be interesting to see if Rudd has been able to fully reform the Australian Lbor Party and whether Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello, who will likely inherit Howard's mantle as the leader of the Liberals, can revive the party's fortunes in time for the next election.
In the meantime, a thank you from Ed Morrissey. It is not given without reason.
A good conservative, very articulate, firm, strong, a great partner to the U.S. in the GWOT. From what I know of Aussies they did not deserve him. (Actually, he's too good for us, too.) It sounds like they're now going down the road they do deserve.
I hope he has a long and happy life! He should buy a ranch near Crawford, TX and retire.
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.