Battle of the ages

Kevin Rudd is fond of saying that 16 seats is a virtual Everest. When he assumed the leadership, no one seemed to believe that Labor could win this election. The grand old Labor hero, the venerable Gough, said categorically Rudd would win the following election. For Labor to win, something truly historic has to happen...and something truly historic is happening. This election is not just between opposing parties or policies, but between different historical epochs.

Rudd's first speech as Labor leader contained the following statement:

The great danger that we face with the modern face of liberalism, this modern Liberal Party, is that it is not the Liberal Party of old. If you go back and read what Bob Menzies had to say about social responsibility and social justice, there is no way that Bob Menzies would fit into the world view that we are now being offered. You see, the member for Kooyong recently delivered a speech on Bob Menzies’ legacy within the Liberal Party on these questions of social responsibility. It is quite clear when you read that clearly that there has been an ocean of change between that Liberal Party and what it stood for, despite our criticisms of it and our disagreements with it at the time, and the market fundamentalism which has overtaken the current Liberal Party.

The basic thrust boils down to this: Rudd Labor is not the socialists of the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s. It is the true baton-carrier for the Menzies tradition. This is an appeal that has been coming for a long time, and finally Rudd sees himself as the leader capable of making it.

Howard is about to be wedged by his own historical hero. If Rudd's philosophy does come to be known in the leafy streets, among the aged whose prejudice of Labor goes back to Chifley's nationalisation in 1949 and the sectarian divisions under Evatt and Calwell, Howard might just not have a party left to lead.

Kevin07 is an update of Bob49, workchoices is an extremist policy which undermines family life. The market fundamentalism of neo-liberalism is the new fit for socialism, chaining all aspects of life to the economy. The appeal to allow prosperity to flow more freely to those who have missed out is reminiscent of Menzies' call to drop post-war austerity measures. Working families seem to be the new 'forgotten people'.

Rudd has updated the Menzies era liberal values and reconciled them with current Labor right economic policy and progressive debates on multiculturalism and reconciliation.

In response, Howard is either by accident or design, hosting a Menzies policy revival tour. His solution to the productivity question is to champion the revival of technical colleges and his solution to health policy is community boards. His NT intervention is a pre-Gorton/ Whitlam style micromanagement exercise. Costello's mindless rantings about Gillard's links to the Socialist forum are about awaking the ancient ghosts of socialism. Costello couldn't take the hatchet to Medicare Gold (only 3 years old), but raised student politics of 25 years ago. Methinks Howard is terrified that Rudd might be getting into his political conscience.

At this election, we have the Liberals wedded to neo-conservatism on the economy (except for pork barrelling en masse) falling back on some long dead policy options to try and match Rudd's agenda. Rudd Labor appears to have a more coherent reconciliation of a liberal world outlook and more innovative policy approaches.