Malcolm Turnbull, a barrister by trade and chairman of the board by inclination, chooses his words and his adversaries for maximum effect.
And so, when he lined up neo-conservative commentator Andrew Bolt for a free character assessment, he was addressing not simply the bothersome Bolt, but the jury and the shareholders of his current organisation, which happens to be the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party, of course, isn't exactly Turnbull's party at present. It's Tony Abbott's party, the same Tony Abbott who stripped the chairman's title from Turnbull a few years ago by one vote and then, glory be, took the whole show to government.
All part of a long amusing game, you might think, for a barrister who would dearly like to be chairman of the board again, but who knows he doesn't have the jury with him. Not yet, anyway.
Turnbull hasn't looked stupendously impressed ever since. He announced he was quitting a while back and then changed his mind.
Unsurprisingly, quite a number of observers have concluded Turnbull is waiting.
It's not that he doesn't have options. He's rolling in the folding stuff from all manner of ventures, has proved he can run a merchant bank and the legal defence of a spy against the whole British government and he made a squillion out of an early email company. Abbott was so awed he claimed Turnbull practically introduced the internet to Australia.
Dunno why he's waiting,abbott is a drongo,so is his abacus pusher mate. The inability of abbott and joe to sell the budget,which they cant because everyone knows,there isn't a budget emergency is manna from heaven for Malcolm. This two step shuffle from the inglorious leader and his sidekick,is a death roll in disguise,their own.
I'm ambivalent towards Turnbull,but in the brains race,hes gotta be head and shoulders over the less than dynamic duo combined. Oh yes,there's a tall poppy syndrome alright,right smack bang in the middle of the broadest church going around,cough cough supposedly broadest church going around.
Raider
In the land of the blind,the one eyed man is King.
