Obama and Julia miss the real targets: suburbia's pedicurists and Latino lawn mowers

FAIRFAX journalists shine a spotlight on the suburbs of Australia and the US.

Obama's America. Simon Mann in Fairfax newspapers on Saturday:

IN Washington's leafy northwest suburbs, bands of Latino workers trim the lawns of wealthy white folk, or serve them in restaurants at miserable pay rates, relying on tips to survive.

Gillard's Australia. Horin in the SMH:

FROM private car, private school, private hospital, and salubrious suburb, it is possible in Sydney to never knowingly come across someone who is obviously poor, unless you ask your pedicurist.

Adele Horin in The Sydney Morning Herald April 9, 2005:

AS someone who grew up on an iconic quarter-acre in suburban Perth, I can tell you it was too big even in the 1960s when men had time to mow the couch grass, and women had time to tend the roses. The proverbial quarter-acre remains a potent symbol of an Australian ideal that can be called upon, like mateship, to make people feel sentimental. Australian culture has been the culture of the suburbs. And just as the aberrant 50s shaped our idea of family life, so it shaped our idea of home. As hard as it has been for some Australians to let go of the dream, people are voting with their feet.

Horin pines for the suburbs in the SMH on Saturday:

IN a new book, called Disconnected, one of our newest federal MPs, Andrew Leigh, a former Australian National University professor of economics, presents some compelling data to show Australians are living lonelier, less connected lives than 30 to 40 years ago. Anyone who grew up in the 1950s or 1960s would instinctively agree with Leigh's thesis, recalling neighbourhoods alive with gangs of roaming children, mothers' tennis matches, neighbourhood barbecues, community television nights at the homes of early adopters, overflowing churches, and other signs of a vibrant community life.

And then checks herself:

IT wasn't nirvana - a lot of the women were dying of boredom - but providing you weren't gay or black there was a strong sense of belonging.

Plain talking. Associated Press, July 22:

HILLARY Rodham Clinton has urged Vietnam to improve its human-rights record. Clinton said [Vietnam] "is on the path to becoming a great nation with an unlimited potential". To fulfil that promise, though, she said the communist government must ease curbs on free speech and political activity. "That is among the reasons we expressed concern about arrest and conviction of people for peaceful dissent, attacks on religious groups and curbs on Internet freedom."".

Plain talking? Julia Gillard in Hanoi yesterday:

JOURNALIST: Hillary Clinton yesterday had strong comments to Vietnam about its human rights record and her concerns. Will you be raising human rights concerns?

PM: I will be having some comprehensive discussions today with the leaders of Vietnam. I'll have the discussions and then we'll talk about matters raised in the discussions, but I anticipate we'll have a comprehensive engagement across all things in the relationship.

Plain talking. NSW Premier Kristina Keneally on the Ten Network's Meet the Press yesterday:

HUGH Riminton: But are you saying it is a good thing that a lot of Labor voters are voting Green?

Keneally: I think it is a good thing that it is becoming a more robust contest of ideas.

Riminton: Are you partly to blame for there being so much dissatisfaction?

Keneally: I do not think this is something to be alarmed about. It is something to celebrate.

Riminton: Are you saying that you are pleased to see the rise of the Greens?

Keneally: I think it reflects a healthy democracy across the board. Greens, independents, minor parties are having a more constructive role to play in politics. I do not think it is something to be feared.

Riminton: To an extent, you do not sound like the leader of the Labor Party when you say that.