Americans shocked by ex-PM Kevin Rudd's exit
FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd won a statesman's welcome in Washington with America's elite baffled and regretful at his removal from office.
FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd won a statesman's welcome in Washington with America's elite baffled and regretful at his removal from office.
Visiting Washington for the American-Australian Leadership Dialogue, Rudd, joined by his wife Terese Rein, saw a range of prominent Americans including World Bank president Bob Zoellick and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The unconfirmed story circulating in Washington is that President Obama's initial reaction at hearing of Rudd's overthrow was to brand it a "coup d'etat". For Americans, it is a stunning lesson in the brutality of Australian Westminster parliamentary politics. It should terminate the oft-repeated nonsense that Australia is heading towards a presidential system since the president is safe from Rudd's fate.
Rudd played a key role in the Leadership Dialogue this week. He was among friends, at least on the US side. This is the forum, founded by businessman Phil Scanlan, that he has attended since its inception nearly 20 years ago and the instrument through which he established his American networks.
He was taken to lunch during the Dialogue by three veteran US participants, American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein, Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne and senior fellow from the Brookings Institute Thomas Mann.
"I think Kevin's departure is a great loss," said US economist David Hale, another Dialogue participant. "I believe there's a whole range of issues where he could have had a positive influence on the White House, from China policy to discussions on the US budget deficit."
Zoellick paid a tribute to Rudd's tireless diplomacy saying he was one of the first to seize the the potential of the G20 as the new forum for global decision-making. "He developed a good relationship with President Obama," Zoellick said. "I give Kevin a lot of credit for seeing the potential of the G20 and pushing it. On one of his visits to Washington he asked me to put together a small dinner, policy scholars, people from the investment world, a few journalists, and after that dinner they universally said 'we don't know what the G20 will do, we're pleased Kevin Rudd will be there'."
E. J. Dionne said: "I think President Obama will miss him. It wasn't just that Rudd and Obama thought quite a lot alike. Each succeeded by drawing a generational line across his country's electorate."