Raven Paradox

Thankfully the ALP has had the good sense to elect Kevin Rudd as their leader.

Australia now has a real chance to begin to reverse the damage that has been done to it after over a decade of Howard’s government.

Despite my personal dislike for Kim Beazley - I believe that as a leader, he has not shown vision, courage or true leadership - there are seemingly two undeniable qualities that exist in the man:

• He is seemingly gentle and caring
• He is, and I say this without a hint of sarcasm or malice, possibly the best loser that I have ever seen.

In defeat, Beazley has always been his most impressive and his concession speech this morning, shortly after learning about the death of his brother was one of his finest.

His concession speech after the 2001 election was inspiring, passionate and invigorating - and it was a speech made in defeat. It was truly stirring, one of those speeches that you listened to and thought “wow, this guy is one amazing individual” and got that warm feeling running up your spine.
His concession speech/congratulations speech today was that of a true gentleman and did not contain a trace of bitterness. He implored the party and the people to get behind Kevin Rudd in true “all shoulders to the one wheel” style.

It really begs the question though - why could a man, so magnanimous, inspiring and passionate in defeat - not conjure up such magic when at the top of his game? Why could Kim Beazley never seem to display these marvelous talents to the people during normal everyday life?

During the day to day machinations of political life, Kim was never able to really connect with the people, waxing prolix and causing peoples minds to simply shut down.

If he had been able to elicit from within, on a day to day basis, the passion that he has always seemed to find in defeat, I dare say that he may today be prime minister of this country.

Let us hope that his friends and family rally around him in what must a terribly difficult time for him. Our thoughts are with he and his family on the tragic loss of his younger brother.