THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Australia's leadership crisis has exposed a paralysing dilemma that the ruling Labour party has never been able to resolve: its path to success lies with a leader, Kevin Rudd, who is deeply loathed by his colleagues.
For all his jarring quirks and transparently feigned "blokey-ness", Mr Rudd appears to have connected with the Australian public, while Julia Gillard – with her workaday manner – has not.
For most of his time as prime minister, Mr Rudd enjoyed soaring public approval ratings which kept at bay his party colleagues, who largely regarded him as a selfish and egotistical autocrat. When his polls finally dipped, the party swooped – and Ms Gillard deposed of him in a sudden coup in 2010.
The caucus virtually unanimously backed Ms Gillard – prompting Mr Rudd to resign rather than face the ignominy of a ballot – and seemed to believe it had shaken off a tyrant. The public, however, was surprised to discover that a small group of little-known power brokers had orchestrated the demise of a prime minister they had elected in a landslide. » | Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney | Thursday, February 23, 2012
