Troy Bramston agrees Rudd doesn’t want the job unless he’s given a chance to win:
Last week, AWU national secretary Paul Howes said he would not be directing MPs to support Gillard in any possible future caucus leadership ballot. Howes supports Gillard.
But his decision not to actively canvass support for her, like he did publicly and privately in the 2010 coup, is a signal… . It also leaves [Bill] Shorten room to carefully weigh up the option of either sticking with Gillard or switching to Rudd without fear of reprisal from his AWU powerbase....
Rudd, however, is still unlikely to challenge for the leadership. Nor does not he want to inherit a divided party with support from only a small majority. Rudd wants a draft of goodwill that places a premium on unity and a will to fight for electoral victory....
A return to Rudd must also be coupled with the authority to refocus Labor’s political strategy, recast its policies and flag internal party reform. This agenda could include: candidate selection, the party’s union links and the organisation of caucus and conferences.
Rudd Redux, however, comes with great risks. It could be bloody. The cabinet is divided; several ministers won’t serve again in a Rudd government
Peter Hartcher:
The electoral effect of Gillard’s gender comments is so serious that it will probably deter future political leaders from attempting to divide the sexes for political purposes.
She misjudged the electorate. Thinking the people stupid, prejudiced and exploitable, she made a blatant effort to manipulate voters by dividing them. It was the third social dividing line she has attempted to exploit.
It didn’t work for her when she used ‘’class war’’ rhetoric dividing workers from the wealthy. It didn’t work for her when she used xenophobic rhetoric dividing foreign workers from local.
She thought, however, that it would somehow work for her if she tried to foment hostility to ‘’men in blue ties’’ to divide women from men. It has not. Once again, the people have been smarter than the politicians seeking to manipulate them.
Gillard has an uncanny ability to divide Australians but unite her enemies:
GREENS leader Christine Milne and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop have warned against Julia Gillard’s revival of gender politics, calling it an unfair attempt to silence legitimate criticism of her government.
Key independent MP Andrew Wilkie described the Prime Minister’s elevation of abortion as an election issue as “scaremongering” and condemned her claim that female voices would be banished under a Tony Abbott-led government as “patent nonsense”.
Amanda Vanstone:
Quite why Julia Gillard constantly chooses to vacate the high ground to which her office so readily lends itself I cannot imagine. It is as if some type of demon is constantly drawing her downward to the scrappy place usually reserved for desperate leaders of the opposition.
The position of gravitas, the high ground, the prime ministerial perspective, is left vacant for Tony Abbott to occupy. The Prime Minister hands it to him on a plate. Uncontested.
