Rudd, Obama have plenty in common, says US ambassador
Daily Telegraph
January 20, 2010
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd and US President Barack Obama have a "tremendous affinity", a senior US diplomat said.
US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich said the powerful pair had plenty in common.
Former PM John Howard was a close mate with then US president George W Bush, leaving no doubt as to the closeness of Australia's most important alliance.
Mr Bleich said that relationship was as strong as ever under the new leaders.
"I think there's a tremendous affinity between President Obama and Prime Minister Rudd," he told Sky News.
"They have a lot of things in common, they're of similar age, they have an appreciation for policy, they both grew up in Asia."
Mr Bleich pointed to Mr Obama's childhood years in Indonesia and Mr Rudd's years as a diplomat in China.
The US was refocussing on Asia under Mr Obama and saw itself as a "Pacific country", according to Mr Bleich.
After a year in office support for Mr Obama has fallen as the US grapples with the financial crisis, and some of the President's reforms hit roadblocks.
Mr Bleich said Mr Obama had picked tough areas for reform like climate change and health care and "you have to expect that there's going to be some criticism".
Finally someone, the American ambassador to Australia no less, has confirmed that Kevin 07 "I have never been a socialist" Rudd and the left wing community organizer, voice of Islam and the United Nations the President of the United States of America Hussein Obama, have so much in common.
Is it their shared belief in the now totally discredited Junk Science of Global Warming /Climate Change / Dangerous Climate Change ?
Is it their shared belief in a "New World Order" ?
Is it their shared belief in "Social Change" ?
Is it their shared belief in “Open Borders” and the flooding of their respective nations with those who at every opportunity enunciate their commitment to destroy all that has made the USA and Australia what they are today, and to rebuild them in the image of the various FAILED States, Religions and cultures that they RAN AWAY from ?
Is it their shared belief in having an overwhelming desire to control who is entitled to medical treatment and when and where they are allowed to receive it ?
Is it their shared subservience to the United Nations and the rank evil it inflicts upon free men and women the world over ?
Or is it their shared plummeting popularity ratings ?
Obama’s Senate loss should sound alarm for PM
Piers Akerman
Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
BARACK Obama’s chances of winning a second term nosedived yesterday when the Democrats lost the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for the past 47 years and his brother John F. Kennedy for 10 years before that.
It is unlikely Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be on the telephone seeking Obama’s advice on politics any time soon.
In a stunning victory, Republican state senator Scott Brown defeated the Democrat state Attorney-General Martha Coakley, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr in 1946.
The defeat is a huge blow for Obama, who personally campaigned for Coakley in bitter cold and deep snow on Sunday.
Critically, the upset has the potential to derail Obama’s healthcare bill as it deprives the Democrats of the 60-vote majority needed to pass the legislation should the House alter the Bill and return it to the Senate for a vote.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott might like to call and congratulate Scott Brown, a 50-year-old lawyer, former model and National Guard volunteer who has served in the state legislature since 1966.
Like Abbott, Brown is not afraid of showing his body. When he was 22 he posed naked for a Cosmopolitan centrefold and won America’s sexiest man competition. He still strikes a manly figure, driving a ute - or truck, as the Americans say - to work.
Among the important lessons for the Rudd administration to be drawn from this result is that the cult of personality that sweeps some into office can just as speedily evaporate.
Another is the danger of a government claiming that any single piece of legislation is crucial to its administration.
A parallel could be drawn between Obama’s fixation with healthcare and Rudd’s hype about global warming and the need for his massive wealth redistribution plan.
The healthcare bill was seen by voters as an albatross around the necks of taxpayers in Massachusetts, which is the most Democrat-leaning state in the US.
A third is the danger in believing that a friendly media represents a friendly electorate.
With the notable exception of the Fox network, the US press has been as mushy and gooey about the Obama administration as “our” ABC has been about the Rudd pets - Jasper the cat and Abby the dog.
Yesterday it was announced that Rudd has been given a regular spot by his old media mates at Channel 7 in what is clearly a bid to boost a friendly image into households before the expected August election.
The segment was announced by producer Adam Boland, who was behind Rudd’s attempt to stage a phony Anzac Day service in PNG, and is being claimed as an example of “direct democracy”. Democracy, however, requires more than a single participant, unless Seven believes one-party democracy is what the nation needs. Rudd should tell us what he thinks about one-party states and explain their democratic virtues.
No matter how this is presented, Massachusetts has dealt a bad hand to both Obama and his Aussie acolyte.
Bo, the White House Portuguese water dog, better keep out of Obama’s way this week. The boss will not be happy.
Rudd’s pet cat and dog, Jasper and Abby, would also do well to keep a very low profile.
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