In the last two weeks, there have been two of the most striking political interviews with the two men seeking to be Prime Minister in 2010. Both were on the ABC's 7.30 report, both, it can be fair to say, weren't particularly good for either party and both confrontations have revealed some key differences in character.
On the one hand there was the unusually aggressive Kevin Rudd interview. Our PM, the placid bureaucrat, was suddenly animated and passionately defensive on his ETS position, while Kerrie O'Brien, the PM suggested, was taking it all so easy in "7.30 report land". And in the other interview, there was the fumbling, foolish-looking Abbott who not only admitted his contradictory remarks but warned the public against taking his every word as "gospel truth;" effectively confirming a view that he is flaky and un-Prime Ministerial.
On both counts, their opposites were praising the media Gods for delivering them such pre-election gold, but both Abbott and Rudd will retain scars from these disastrous interviews, albeit different ones, that will remain for all to see at election time. Let's look firstly to what has been declared the "calamitous", "excruciating" and one of the more bizarre interviews in recent memory in which a politician admitted that he can be not only contradictory but flexible with the truth. This seems like a wet dream for the Labor party, and sure enough the "Phoney Tony" ad campaign was out before you could say the words "electoral cycle."
But this is not a complete home goal to be rejoiced by the other side. How it plays out it in the electorate is going to be tricky to figure out. Who knows? This whole idea of being honest about political dishonesty, or if we get more nuanced, Abbott's admission that he is unable to control his words under "pressure", might indeed connect with people. Ironically enough, it might even play into his "authentic" image. But a gaffe is a gaffe is a gaffe; it will always hinder rather than help his electoral prospects.
But when we contrast this with last week's Rudd-Kerry O'Brien face-off, in which Rudd got as close to animated as we've seen him defending his record on the ETS, Rudd was not wimping out making excuses, he was fudging the question with true political vigour. But still there's probably only one way this interview went down in the minds of viewers and voters - he ultimately looked arrogant and aggressive. The two 'A' words that you do not want to be anywhere near in this game of politics.
One could still, however, find arguments to defend Rudd. O'Brien was far more aggressive and provocative with the PM than with Abbott, much more of an "under pressure" interview than Tony would be used to. And then, when he did react, that 30 secs of heat was all most of us saw on our television sets the next day. Just that out of context snippet where Rudd looked red cheeked, blinking and exasperated.
But at the core of these two interviews was confronting politicians on the bread and butter of their trade - contradictions or, more colloquially, lying. Abbott lied about no new taxes and then proposed just that; Rudd had the ETS as a 2007 election promise which he then unceremoniously dumped. But it is their reactions to O'Brien's confrontation that reveals something very distinct about these two major players.
Abbott showed that he couldn't handle a simple fudging of a question. He could have easily said something to the effect of the new tax was necessary for a new visionary policy, end of discussion. This points more broadly to his inability to handle the pressure of the role, to keep it together under the spotlight. And Rudd could simply have gone through the interview without jumping on that high-horse and wagging the finger at Kerry. But Rudd couldn't help himself, when backed into a corner he reacted smugly and certainly without grace. The two interviews I think showed that its easier to understand Abbott, even if we don't want him to be PM, and its difficult to understand Rudd's character while he maintains his prime ministerial air. The paradox of this election summed up really.
Here in the red corner, the un-prime ministerial, the flaky, the not-so gospel fighter Tooooony Abbott! Waiting for him in the in the blue corner the the mentalist dentist, the guy that puts 'Oh' into agro, the high-horse PM, Keeeeevin Rudd. Ding ding.
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