Rudd's dumping no surprise - the pre-election blandness wasn't an act

Are we really surprised?

The Australian media is feigning surprise that Kevin Rudd has become Labor's first prime minister to be dumped before completing a single term in office.

But why? It has become increasingly clear that the persona we saw throughout the Kevin 07 campaign of being (with apologies to Douglas Adams) 'mostly harmless' was not an act - it is the real person. And that is not good enough. Mostly harmless was actually pretty harmful, when people were expecting so much more.

Many people were surely hoping that the whole 'me too' campaign approach was merely to avoid 'scaring the horses', and post-election he'd be able to come out and lead the country into a new era that would see the shameful legacies of the Howard years throw overboard.

But we got little of the sort.

It started OK with Kyoto and the Apology, putting up the ETS was on the right track, and to be fair they did what was needed during the financial meltdown inflicted on us all by gross mis-management in the United States.

But that's about it. Not insignificant wins to be sure, but far from enough to rest on your laurels.

The health solution was a half measure instead of getting serious about centralising the whole shebang.
Ineffective micromanagement of the public service and excessive demands meant risk analysis hasn't got the attention it deserved, leading to almighty screw-ups. And even the solutions to the screw-ups are suffering from the same problems.

Rudd and Penny Wong tied themselves in knots trying to talk up an increasingly complicated Emissions Trading Scheme, until they just bailed on the whole idea. Then when the Greens put up a vastly more simple solution, Rudd wouldn't even talk with them.

And finally, the mining tax was a good idea but Rudd was utterly incapable of selling it to a public that should be embracing it.

All the while, Tony Abbott has been out-Howarding John Howard. The electorate's memory is not so short that the prospect of a return to the extreme right-wing Hanson-apologist is looked on well. But equally, the prospect of more Rudd in a "least-worst' option was also intolerable.

Perhaps I'm an idealist, but I think Australia deserves far more than least-worst. We deserve a leader with vision, and who can articulate that vision to the population, and bring everyone along with them. We need someone who can convince us to embrace a sustainable and healthy future, where we aren't forever playing infrastructure catch-up on runaway population growth, where clean industry has an even playing field with polluters, and where our faith in our democratic processes and people is restored.

I'm not sure Julia Gillard is that person - that remains to be seen now that the shackles of being a loyal deputy are off.

But I am sure Kevin Rudd was not that person. No surprise there at all.