Honour Restored in Defeat
Only a couple of weeks ago I blogged about the slide of then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
It seems that the only group of people with less patience for Rudd than the electorate was his own party.
It still amazes me how quickly an elected Prime Minister was so quickly discarded in the space of a (relative) few hours.
The resentment that Rudd had nurtured against himself inside the ALP was so palpable that he barely had 20% support of his colleagues when he needed it most.
The ALP moved swifter than Mossad, the CIA and the former KGB in eliminating a perceived threat to its imminent electoral prospects.
I think Tony Abbott was right when he said that Rudd deserved the judgment of the electorate rather than to be hunted down at night and stabbed by his own.
No prime minister deserved such treatment, as Abbott pointed out in parliament that afternoon.
I do want to give tribute and honour where it is due.
Rudd, facing annihilation at a party room ballot, went with dignity without forcing a vote, and in the interests of the unity of his party.
What I found particularly moving was Rudd’s presence on the back bench during Question Time in the House later that day with a new Prime Minister sitting at centre stage.
It took character and guts for Rudd to do that and I believe those kind of magnanimous overtures will not be soon forgotten.
It is easy for any of us to be critical of others, but when you see such people fall it is never pretty.
All of us have clay feet.
We all make mistakes, we all go back on our word.
It’s just the consequences sometimes that are so excruciating.
Rudd was, during his first couple of years in office, virtually Australia’s most popular Prime Minister of all time.
Public opinion however changes more frequently than a rainy day in Melbourne. Those who are loved today can be loathed tomorrow- and vice versa.
So be consumed with the truth that God loves you, despite your sins, limitations and failures. So much so that He spared not His only Son.
That reality will free you to do what he has called you to do, regardless of what others think about you.
PS I was a bit irritated when Rudd, during his farewell speech thanked ‘God’ and and after calling God ‘him’ then qualified it with ‘or her’. With Australia now getting its first female prime minister, can’t God still be masculine?
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IT’s quite surprising to see the way he left. As you mentioned it did reveal character that I didn’t think was there.
a hidden talent indeed Alen:)
Great line – “The ALP moved swifter than Mossad, the CIA and the former KGB in eliminating a perceived threat to its imminent electoral prospects.”
The whole thing was very interesting…I suppose the rightness and wrongness of what the ALP did will be argued over endlessly…children will study it in their history books I’m sure, just like they do Whitlam’s dismissal.
I did think though, that if you were a pastor and up to 80% of your church membership were prepared to chuck you out without blinking – it would say something about your leadership style wouldn’t it!
yes PJ that is what is emerging in reports this week.
Graham Richardson wrote in the Australian this morning about the pure hatred the party had developed for Rudd. quite sad when you look at the wholesale goodwill that existed when Rudd was elected and that he brought the party out of the political wilderness after so many years.
I’m inclined to think you’re giving Rudd too much credit here. In light of his record, I think he chose not to contest the vote to salvage what was left of his bruised ego…
Hey Jason, yes I had given some reflection to that. was Rudd just trying to save face? while there was probably an element of this, the fact that he turned up sitting on those dreaded back benches deserves some credit. it is like a dismissed pastor turning up next sunday to listen to the new minister (or ministeress:))
BTW, we are freezing in Perth:)