On being an ordinary Australian, II

Posted on | March 23, 2006 |

A working bibliography from the 10 year anniversary commentary. Please feel free to add (must contain reference to Howard’s ‘ordinariness’).

New Matilda: Howard The Ordinary, Bill Leak

The Bulletin: The House of Howard, Tony Wright

The Australian: No Suburban Solicitor, Mike Steketee

The Age: Howard: An ordinary bloke who feeds a nation’s prejudices, Hugh Mackay

The 7.30 Report: John Howard reflects on highs and lows as PM, Interview with Kerry O’Brien

Category: Politics, Research

Comments

One Response to “On being an ordinary Australian, II”

  1. Mark Bahnisch
    April 7th, 2006 @ 10:47 am

    Mel,

    It strikes me there’s a bit of an insight into the perception Howard has tried to create of himself of ordinariness and “just another battler” in this comment (via a discussion of WorkChoices):

    One thing, also, which has changed, and which bears consideration is these IR laws have altered Howard’s personal impact on the electoral mind. One of the key nodes of success Howard drew upon until now was playing on the image of being the average joe blow character who blandly gets the job done. This way he has been able to incrementally bring about enormous changes to the Australian way of life without appearing to have done so. The greater public have known Howard as PM as pretty much bland and in the background.

    These laws have brought John Howard as Prime Minister much, much further into that greater public mind. In many instances, where daily lives hardly noticed the man, now, Howard is a factor in their day.

    Howard’s cover has gone, in the once rather apathetic public mind he’s arrived, and from there, it’s a different ball game for him. Every step he takes is now more magnified, every mistake less easily glossed over, and this bloke as PM starts to move under more serious assessment.

    A slight change in the economy, or even a public perception of it, and Howard will be facing a very, very different day each day himself.

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