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The author evaluates the performance of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after fourteen months in office. He sees Rudd as failing to take the opportunity provided by the recession to reorganize the Australian economy away from globalism and laments that the administration has not chosen to do this. The author also examines Rudd's ability to communicate with voters and the likely return of protectionism, and contrasts him with his predecessor, John Howard.

The article discusses the role of aesthetics in politics, especially in Australia under Prime Minister John Howard, and also Kevin Rudd. Political stagecraft in the era of mass media is discussed, in particular the importance to conservative politics of communicating a state of emergency through the manipulation of symbols and imagery.

The article presents the author's views on what the political left in Australia must do to reverse what he sees as the regression in political culture under the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard. The Australian Liberal Party under Kevin Rudd is urged to do more than be slightly moderate.

The article discusses the political actions of Australian prime minister John Howard regarding Indigenous relations and sexual abuse. The military application of peacekeeping forces to assist in domestic sexual abuse of children within Indigenous Australian communities in 2007 is criticized, highlighting the more universal nature of abuse and claiming that the non-indigenous sector need not assert involvement.