The fault is in themselves

With about 6 months to go to the planned election it's clear that the ALP government is facing electoral Armageddon. As to why Prime Minister Gillard appears unwilling or incapable of change the reasons are complex and difficult to fathom.

One clue, based on her ascent through student politics, joining Emily's list, working for a left-leaning industrial legal firm, advising a state-based Labor politician and mastering the dark arts of toppling a first term Prime Minister, is that Gillard is a consummate political apparatchik.

The constant dissembling, spin and opportunism that surrounds her time as Deputy-Leader and Prime Minister denotes a view of politics that mirrors Graham Richardson's 'whatever it takes' approach to gaining and maintaining power.

Compare Gillard's political record and legacy to someone like the Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks who, in part, retired from politics to spend more time with his family and its clear that for her political power is central to how she defines herself and relates to others.

While Gillard is tertiary educated and intelligent it's also the case, unlike Tony Abbott, a Rhode's scholar, or Bob Carr, an expert amateur historian, that the Prime Minister, both in her speech and writings, appears pedestrian and devoid of inspiring rhetoric and evidence of deeply held, carefully thought through ideals and beliefs.

While past Labor Prime Ministers like Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating inspired and moved the nation with their commitment and conviction one searches in vain for any comparable speech or essay by the current Prime Minister.

For all his egoism and tantrums even Kevin Rudd, as proven by his essay Faith in politics published in The Monthly in 2006, unlike Gillard, appears to anchor his view of politics to a philosophy that admits a world larger, richer and more complex than that represented by self-interest and self-aggrandizement.