KEY POINTS:
So the election is all about leadership. It must be because John Howard and Kevin Rudd say it is.
New leadership, old leadership, right leadership - take your pick and cast your ballot. The trouble is, leadership is a slippery concept.
The Macquarie Dictionary defines leadership as the
position, function or guidance of a leader; ability to lead.
So go to "leader" and you get 13 definitions, or to "lead" and get 42. The 25th may be relevant: "The animals at the front of a moving mob."
None of it helps an understanding of what political leadership is. University politics departments devote whole courses to it. Many theses have been written about it. They traverse such conundrums as style versus substance and whether great leaders make history, or history makes great leaders.
In the United States you can get a master's degree in political leadership, or take courses to help you become a political leader. Some include developing skills such as handling the media and campaign fundraising, that suggest a functional view of leadership. For all the definitional difficulties, many people probably have an instinctive view of a political leader as someone of uncompromising, if not arrogant, convictions.
Of Australia's recent political leaders, Paul Keating and Jeff Kennett come to mind. Bob Hawke, with his emphasis on consensus, didn't fit the mould so readily, but was probably more effective. None of this appears to worry Mr Howard or Mr Rudd, with both talking a lot about leadership in their initial election statements.
They used similar rhetorical flourishes. Mr Howard twice had passionate beliefs. Mr Rudd matched this while also holding beliefs "with every fibre of my being". Both spoke of their leadership in terms of the good things that could be achieved for Australia.
But there were big differences, and not just in Mr Howard's insistence on right leadership against Mr Rudd's on new leadership. Mr Howard emphasised team leadership - "The right leadership is the leadership that delivers the team that knows how to do the job" and "the right leadership is a group of men and women who will govern for all Australia".
This team reliance was given practical effect yesterday when Mr Howard played second fiddle to Treasurer Peter Costello when the Liberals let loose with their first big election salvo, their tax policy.
Of course Mr Howard, having said he'd step aside, almost certainly for Mr Costello, during his fifth term, can hardly present himself as a one-man band. Which is exactly the way Mr Rudd came over.
His statement was full of what he, not his team, would do: I offer a plan of action, I'll announce fresh ideas, I will ratify Kyoto, I will abolish Work Choices, I will end the blame game between Canberra and the states, and so on.
Mr Howard used the "I" word 26 times in his statement. Mr Rudd used it 45 times.
- AAP
