Gush much

I am managing to control my shock over John Howard's announcement that he will remain party leader of the Liberals past the next election.

Seriously folks, anyone who thinks he will let go power is deeply deluded. The Prime Ministerial Regalia will be prised from his cold dead fingers I suspect, and even then it will be a struggle. I get the impression that John Howard is vowed and determined to surpass Robert Menzies as the longest ruling Prime Minister.

The party is largely absolutely GIDDY that J'Ho has announced that he is staying on – apart from Peter Costello's supporters and to be honest I am not entirely sure who they are. Since I am actually resident in Higgins, Mr Costello's famously safe conservative seat, I am penning a letter to Peter to commiserate on his failure to win the parties support for a leadership challenge. Really I am. Labor needs all the help they can get and a good leadership challenge may have been helpful.

Or it could have just cemented J'Hos power even further. Who knows. On an up note, maybe Labor will put some more energy into policy formation rather than trying to fuel leadership speculation.

The support for "Honest John" from the Liberals has been clear and public, and in some cases somewhat overwhelming. I suspect that even the Liberals, in my opinion a party containing more than its fair share of self-congratulatory, self promoting, back stabbing sycophants†, may have taken a collective step backwards yesterday to avoid too much association with Jackie Kelley, one time Minister for Sport and Tourism and previously Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney 2000 Games,  – now apparently Minister for Ice Dancing.

Ms Kelley gushed out her enthusiasm on national radio and even my mother, queen of the effusive outburst was a little off put. I feel duty bound to share the clip with you. A full hearing can be found on the ABC's website along with the transcript.

I guess that clutching onto that marginal seat is starting to get to her, that and getting her head banged against the ice by the dishy Pavel Aubrech.

So it looks like we are in for a few more years of Howard in power. Is that a good thing for the country? I am not sure. Certainly we are in a period of apparent economic prosperity, but it all just feels short sighted to me. Like the countries current addiction to credit (Hi there, my name is Australia. And I am a credit addict) current policy doesnt seem focused on the long term, it seems focused on getting through the next election cycle, on supporting the electorates desire to ignore growing problems in favor of personal fullfillment through money and things.

Dont get me wrong, I am all for rampant hedonism, but you have to lay off the tasty/fatty food sometime if you expect to survive. And while I might be a big-ol mo, I really would like future generations to have something to work with.

So what is a slightly left leaning, fiscally conservative, socially liberal and personally responsable boy to do when facing the prospect of 4 more years under J'Ho's paternal oversite. Well Jackie Kelley gave me a good idea, maybe I should just lay back and spend the time tuning into the likes of Ice Dancing and enjoying the lanky charms of Jake and co.

† Just an opinion mind you