JOHN Howard and Mark Latham are being praised for "not politicising" the bombings in Jakarta.
"The real test of leadership is whether either side of politics actually tries to exploit this horrific incident," the Australian Financial Review's political correspondent said.
The Age insisted no party "exploit this tragedy for political ends" or even offer us any choice other than "a broadly bipartisan approach to terrorism".
Of course, no one wants to see gloating politicians stand on the bodies of the Jakarta dead and jeer: "Told you so." We've all had enough of Bob Brown, I'm sure.
But let's not get too polite for our own good. Our own safety.
So far in this election campaign there has been no real debate about the security of this country, and which political party will protect us best.
This bombing - and last week's horrific slaughter of the children of Beslan - should tell us that this is not some nth order issue, of little relevance or urgency.
Instead, the protection of Australia and Australians is one of the few issues in this campaign that is literally a matter of life and death.
If we choose the wrong options, Australians could die. It sounds rude and exaggerated to say so, but all I say in my defence is that it is true.
In tonight's election debate between the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, the phony non-war over our national security must end.
We must hear at last - and in frank terms - why it is that one party will be better than the other in protecting us and our friends overseas.
This is not rude and unstatesmanlike - in fact, this is about the most important duty of any national leader.
Squibbing this debate is not a sign of good taste, but of irresponsibility. Voters need on this issue in particular a discussion on what best to do. We need choices, not consensus; debate, not silence. Let's talk Jakarta.
Let's also talk about the need to side with America against its enemies. About the need to defend Iraq, shore up Pakistan, reform the corrupt and weak United Nations, and help give Indonesia real schools instead of hate-preaching Islamic madrassas. Let's hear real policies, not platitudes.
Let's also debate whether we're doing enough to stop terrorists right here at home, and even if multiculturalism weakens, not strengthens, us in our fight against extremism.
Gasp! But these are not "important domestic issues", the heads-in-sand will splutter. And this is so divisive.
Sorry, but keeping Australians alive and secure is about as domestic a concern as I can imagine. And nothing will be as divisive as a bombing we could have stopped.
Let's debate.
I, for one, particularly need to know from Mark Latham whether he is going to give in to the terrorists or stand up to them.
I cannot think of any Labor policy more disastrous to our safety than Latham's promise to pull our troops out of Iraq by Christmas.
This would give the terrorists precisely what they demand -- or, rather, give them item one of an endless list that will end with our utter defeat.
Pulling out would also show a weakness of the West against the power of the Islamist terrorists, attracting new recruits to their terrible cause.
It would undermine Iraq's democrats just as they struggle to hold their first election -- an election which terrorists sponsored by Syria and Iran are desperately trying to kill off because they know it threatens them.
And pulling out would embolden terrorists, just as Spain encouraged the bombers of Madrid by also quitting Iraq -- a decision which likely spurred the Jakarta bombers to launch a similar attack on us, with similar demands at a similar time in an election cycle. Thank you, Spain. The dead of Jakarta -- a mother, a gardener, guards and a student -- salute you.
Will Latham now change his mind, to defy the Jakarta bombers? If he does, he'll win my genuine applause, and prove to me he really gets it: that we are in a war.
But I know many of you will violently disagree. Already we hear our intelligentsia urging us to give in to Jemaah Islamiyah, the terrorists who massacred us in Bali and are said to be behind this Jakarta bombing, too.
We must pull out of Iraq, some say. By going there, Howard made us a target, they claim, somehow "forgetting" 10 of us died in the September 11 attacks, and another 88 at Bali -- all dying before we went into Iraq.
But maybe Howard's critics are right. Maybe we are being rightly punished for our racism, or insensitivity or whiteness.
So let's argue all this now, while we have a choice in this election. Let's not get coy or sensitive. Let's have that debate, starting tonight.
And let no one tut-tut over "exploiting Jakarta". This is not about exploiting the dead, but saving the living.
