Prime Ministerial Lessons in Hubris

The curse of the favourable opinion poll

Have you ever seen a more loved Prime Minister than John Howard at Melbourne’s March 2006 Commonwealth Games. The crowd simply could not get enough of him. I have never seen a PM receive such a cheer. Perhaps the crowd that night were high on something, perhaps they were cheering Melbourne’s popular Lord Mayor John So or the athletes. Whatever it was it rubbed off on Howard and I am certain that this event caused Howard to lose that one last chance to go out on top. He saw he was loved and thought he could do it again. Once again popular adulation and hubris combined to cause political disaster. Eighteen months later the loved PM not only loses an election, he loses his seat. You can tell these stories again and again but leaders and PMs never learn. Kevin Rudd is an interesting juxtaposition of ability, ambition and humility. So long as the humility is there to balance out the other two traits then we will have a fair Prime Minister. However when you become Prime Minister doors open, people smile seductively even when you are a nerd, crowds cheer, schedules are made around you, people pamper and pat. If you start to do overly well in the opinion polls god help you

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