Well, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since I last blogged...
A Recent highlight was listening to Barak Obama's speech to the people, mostly students, at the University of Queensland. What a healing and relief to hear him talk! crack a few jokes, and laugh at himself. I could even go listen to what PM Abbott had to say afterwards. He usually gets strictly muted or turned off in my place.
We certainly need some inspiration and hope in the world, and to get it from a leader, is a great gift.
Has anyone notice how lousy the leaders are these days? No great orators to be seen. Except for Noel Pearson at the Gough Whitlam Memorial, Sydney Townhall. Cate Blanchette, Whitlam's speech writer were pretty good too. and his son who gave us the personal. The public left outside managed some rousing boos at PM Abbott and ex-PM Howard and some wonderful cheers for ex-PM Julia Gillard. The people in the great hall gave a standing applause to Julia when she came in. The organizers, probably under PM Abbott's direction, seated her next to Kevin Rudd. She refused to take it and was seated elsewhere. This memorial purveyed a strong sense of Gough as a builder of bridges, a great innovator, a warm-hearted leader and a generous spirit.
Strangely enough, it was Kevin Rudd who seems to be more like Whitlam in his manner of leading the government, and one wonders how frustrated he did become, and how ego soreness messed things up for him. Kind of a very sad situation, it all was. Were too many people fearful that he was going to do a Gough Whitlam and only keep a Labor Govt. in for 3 years? And why did they not go for a double dissolution over the ETS? Well, that could have been the negativity of too much fear.
Being far too long out in the wilderness, during Howard's long tenure in government, must have bitten hard. It feels similar to long years of Menzies and then the lingering on of the Liberals in govt. after that.
Looking at how Obama rose up after the long years of conservative and punishing rule under George W. Bush, one has cause to wonder, if we actually do need the long cold winters of right wing rule to bring through the truly great leaders. There must be a better way to wing it, without the poor and the more humanitarian people, having to endure long sufferings. More sustenance and more nurture are surely needed.
We certainly need some inspiration and hope in the world, and to get it from a leader, is a great gift.
Has anyone notice how lousy the leaders are these days? No great orators to be seen. Except for Noel Pearson at the Gough Whitlam Memorial, Sydney Townhall. Cate Blanchette, Whitlam's speech writer were pretty good too. and his son who gave us the personal. The public left outside managed some rousing boos at PM Abbott and ex-PM Howard and some wonderful cheers for ex-PM Julia Gillard. The people in the great hall gave a standing applause to Julia when she came in. The organizers, probably under PM Abbott's direction, seated her next to Kevin Rudd. She refused to take it and was seated elsewhere. This memorial purveyed a strong sense of Gough as a builder of bridges, a great innovator, a warm-hearted leader and a generous spirit.
Strangely enough, it was Kevin Rudd who seems to be more like Whitlam in his manner of leading the government, and one wonders how frustrated he did become, and how ego soreness messed things up for him. Kind of a very sad situation, it all was. Were too many people fearful that he was going to do a Gough Whitlam and only keep a Labor Govt. in for 3 years? And why did they not go for a double dissolution over the ETS? Well, that could have been the negativity of too much fear.Being far too long out in the wilderness, during Howard's long tenure in government, must have bitten hard. It feels similar to long years of Menzies and then the lingering on of the Liberals in govt. after that.
Looking at how Obama rose up after the long years of conservative and punishing rule under George W. Bush, one has cause to wonder, if we actually do need the long cold winters of right wing rule to bring through the truly great leaders. There must be a better way to wing it, without the poor and the more humanitarian people, having to endure long sufferings. More sustenance and more nurture are surely needed.
