Whatever Rudd does, he will never bring Oz down to such a dreadful level of disrepute in the world. He will never make aussies as ashamed as Howard did. His contact with the world right now shows that he's prepared to shed the cultural cringe that Howard has shrouded the country with. The Howard-Costello duet or the Howard-Ruddock duet or the Howard-Reith duet or the Howard-Abbott duet were duets that will be grating my brain for a long time. I suspect the effect of those duets will be similar on many other aussies as well. The last election was a sparkling indication of that.
