[I’m trying to see how many posts can have apt Bob Dylan song titles.]
Despite the rather pathetic bleatings of the opposition on Kevin Rudd’s reception in Washington, there’s little doubt John Howard would be seething. Of probably more concern is the degree to which this sort of flattery might detract from the intention Rudd has declared for Australia of a more independent foreign policy. Hopefully it won’t.
There’s also little doubt that for once, a vox pops story in the papers is probably spot on. Kevin Rudd and Anna Bligh aside, most Quincelanders won’t welcome the bestowal by the Man of Steel Mark II of the title of “honorary Queenslander” on one George W. Bush. I certainly wouldn’t be welcoming Bush if he ever popped in to claim his crown. But it did get me thinking about a delightful little incident recounted in the Robert A. Caro biography of a more genuine Texan, LBJ, who made an unscheduled stop near Winton in Northwestern Queensland during World War II when his navy plane’s navigational equipment failed on route from Darwin:
… they hit the ground with scarcely a jolt. Australian ranchers suddenly appeared, and, recalls one of the crew, “Right away Lieutenant Commander Johnson gets busy. He begins to get acquainted. They tell him where we are and some of them go off to get a truck to take us into town where we can telephone, and more keep coming, and Johnson is shaking hands all round, and he comes back and tells us these are real folks - the best damn folks in the world, except maybe the folks in his own Texas. Pretty soon he knows all their first names, and they’re telling him why there ought to be a high tarriff on wool, and there’s no question he swung that county for Johnson before we left. He was in his element. I know he sure swung the… crew. He can carry that precinct any day.”
I have a feeling Kevin Rudd might have read the Caro biog. Of course, whatever other sterling qualities Texans have, a sense of irony probably isn’t among them.
It’s bemusing to see Bush get all buddy-buddy with Federal Labor now; as I recall several quite senior members of the Bush Administration were quite scathing about the prospect of Australian troops being withdrawn from Iraq prior to the election. I guess it just goes to show that all the Coalition fear-mongering about what would happen to Australia’s relationship with the US if Labor won the election was complete and utter hogwash.
Mark:
Kevin Rudd’s deft deflection of that “man of steel” put-down and insult was brilliant.
There’s a great sequel to this story.
LBJ took home movies of this incident.
After the debacle of Tet 1968, and the fiasco of the 1968 presidential campaign, LBJ retired emotionally wounded to his ranch. When visitors called he insisted on showing his movie of his Aussie saviours (the plane had made a very scary crash landing). LBJ found refuge in these aging images of comaraderie with Queenslanders.
I can’t help suspecting that the Menzies governments’ grooming of LBJ in convincing him to commit big-time to the Vietnam conflict played on LBJ’s nostalgia for a purer, simpler time that he thought he’d discovered in the Queensland Outback.
Thanks, Katz, that’s really interesting.
Btw, for LBJ biography aficionados, I can recommend Randall Wilson’s revisionist Architect of American Ambition published in 06:
[link]
There is always an apt Dylan title for a blog post. Always. Even if it’s “Too Much Of Nothing”!
I thought there was an interesting power contrast between Rudd and Bush, with the supposedly more powerful one representing failure and the past, somewhat in the shadow of the one representing the future.
Bush recently sang a ditty called the “Brown Brown Grass of Home” - he seems to be counting the days till he can pack it all in. Rudd on the other hand seems quite brimming with confidence and optimism - it’s a good look for our country.
I remember my father telling me that LBJ stayed at Buchanan’s Hotel in Townsville during WW2 (so had my father.) Dad booked the family into Buchanan’s on a family trip south from FNQ in 1971 so we could soak up the history and atmosphere. Buchanan’s was a fabulous iron lace affair - probably not unlike the Brisbane Bellevue, I’d guess. I was impressed. It was wonderful. Judging by a quick google, Buchanan’s is not there any more, probably gone in the Idiot Wind reign of Joh.
When I think of LBJ and Australia I think first of Harold Holt’s words “all the way with LBJ” and Robert Askin’s instruction to his driver “Run over the bastards” when Vietnam protesters lay down in front of the car in Sydney.
But I also recall LBJ visiting Newstead House on the Brisbane River near Breakfast Creek. There’s nothing on the official site but courtesy of the Dunns, Paul and Elisabeth, it is recorded that there is a Lyndon B. Johnson Place in the grounds near the river.
At the bottom of the next page is the monument to the Americans for their help in WW11. I think LBJ was taken to see it, whereupon the place was named after him.
In looking around I came upon this excerpt of an interview with Caro on Johnson. A cynical bastard. See especially the last para.
Mark: “most Quincelanders won’t welcome the bestowal by the Man of Steel Mark II of the title of “honorary Queenslander” on one George W. Bush.”
From what I gather, the word “Queenslander” seems to also refer to a type of small house, is it a kind of small bungalow? Maybe that’s what Rudd had in mind. “Bungalow” would certainly be an in-the-ballpark (if overly generous) description of the scale of Mr. Bush’s mind, or of his political stature at present.
I think in context Rudd wasn’t being particularly honorific to Bush with that, but simply drawing a parallel between the idea of the Queenslander character and the idea of the Texan character, which seems not too far off base. If we divide the Anglosphere into two roughly equal halves, the Commonwealth and the US, it seems to me that in some respects, Australia when taken as a conceptual or spiritual place is sort of the Commonwealth’s correspondency to the place Texas holds in the overall American psyche. Except maybe for the really dirty politics. And Ma Ferguson. Has Australia got a Ma Ferguson?
btw, I couldn’t find online Rudd’s riposte to the Man of Steel thing. What did he say?
J-P-Z [9]:
A Queenslander is a late 19th~early 20th Century big weatherboard house with very wide verandahs and set on 6 foot high timber stumps [an influence from Malaysia] which allowed cooling breezes to flow under the house; it’s high-pitched corrugated iron roof and its high ceilings made the inside of the house more comfortable than inside an ordinary house [quite clever, really]. Since only the well-off could afford to have them built, the quality of building was usually better. This - as well as their style - is the reason they are so popular with rich young renovators nowadays.
Anita [7]:
Buchanan’s Hotel [featured on a postage stamp] burnt to the ground …. but if that hadn’t happened, there’s no doubt it would have been bellevued too.
Everyone:
Someone ought to write a history of the Americans who were in North Queensland in the ‘thirties and ‘forties …. not just LBJ but robust characters like old Jack Kruschnitt at Mount Isa. There was a lot more American influence in that part of the world than just from the U.S. military occupation alone.
Condaleeza Rice had a very disagreeable expression on her face in the audience too. Think there’s heaps went on behind the scenes with Bush and Rudd we won’t know till the Australian Archives are opened in 30 years or the “free” press in the US bows the whistle. Expecting some kind of shocking anti-Rudd exposure on Fox or smilar outlets of Republican neo-con propaganda. And what was Rudd’s riposte to the “man of steel” rubbish?
btw, John would not be happy, I agree. Another fragment of the Howard legacy shattered.
Actually, he’s probably laughing if he can recall Rudd saying this…
- Kevin Rudd, 7 April 2005
- - 16 March 2008
At least Howard knew where Japan is.
but does he know where Saddam Hussein’s dreaded human shredding machine is?
[link]
Oh how excitement! RWDB repeats opposition talking points. Never would have seen that coming.
I don’t think I qualify as a RWDB but this faux pas of Mr Rudd with regard to due face being given to Japan doesn’t reflect much independence of thought.
The inclusion of Japan as being similar to India or China is obviously a slip of the tongue - who knows? Perhaps he was including them as they are significant investors in both places ?
Why not openly accommodate both important trading partners ?
There is tremendous sensitivity among the japanese to the idea that any nation may even appear to be favouring China over their interests. A more careful consideration of this fact seems to have been overlooked and I can’t understand why it has occurred other than it has been a stuff up.*
*Mick Young theory of Politics.
Stephen Smith met the Japanese foreign minister as one of his first acts in office.
There may well be a point to this, but I can’t help thinking the fact that Brendan Nelson repeats it every bloody night on the news is cynical. If Rudd added an extra day or two in Japan, would we get “Oh noes! PM out of Australia for 19 days in lead up to budget!”…
It’s a Kevinist rhetorical question btw.
murph the surf,
Uh, making a none too subtle point about illegal Japanese whaling in Australian Antarctic waters? In theory one is not supposed to reward bad behaviour.
Paul I agree it is a very unsubtle way to make a point.
Not entirely convinced that a snub will allow us to start productive talks with the japanese at a later time either.
‘Nemawashi’ in japanese is literally working around the roots but it reflects the need for preparation , consultation and long term partnership being fostered so contentious issues can be dealt with to the satisfaction of both sides.
By having approached any disagreement with the japanese without due consideration of their cultural sensitivities is plainly a mistake.
It is possible to react to them by just cutting ties and protesting loudly but it is also ignorant and undiplomatic.
[link]
From ER’s link:
I note that his “senior diplomatic source” is in fact Australian, not Japanese.
I note that this source is not named as a “DFAT officer”, so he or she may not even be an active officer, or indeed may not never have been an officer.
The description “senior diplomatic source” identifies Lord Dolly Downer perfectly.
I’m not suggesting the “source” was His Lordship. But neither can it be ruled out.
It’s quite plausible. Apparently Dolly will soon be giving a major interview on what the government should be doing on foreign policy, given his vantage point of accumulated wisdom.
That will be one major interview to hang out for. Can’t imagine which news organisation would publish Lord Downer’s extremely relevant views. Let me guess.. A very limited news organisation?
I just inquired - I’m told the person who told me thinks it’s on Radio National this week.
Just as I thought, the ABC!
There have been 2 ministerrial visits to Japan since Rudd won the election and so far as I know Rudd is going there later in the year. I was under the impression people who were expert on China also had a certain amount of expertiser on Korea aqnd Japan. Its a bit hard to believe Rudd would have intentionally snubbed the Japanese, (despite my earlier comment on whales). After all the bloke was a diplomat. I knbow I’m a paranoid old leftie, but I smell a neo-con beat up that thje Japs have jumped on board with asd packback fpor the whaling thing.Plus maybe a bit of good old Sino-Japanese animosity and rivalry. History has a long arm.
Katz [13]:
Any real shredder would have been the hogger on the killing floor of a local abbatoir. However, the secret hiding place of the news media’s specially-invented Human Shredding Machine, like its Evil Inventor, is yet to be found. Calling Indiana Jones, calling Indiana Jones!
Everyone:
Maybe I’m missing something …. but exactly where and when and by whom were these expressions of fury against Australian Prime Minister Rudd made by Japanese officials?.
b.t.w. an apology: on post [10] I misspelt Julius “Jack” Kruttschnitt’s name.