Monday, October 18, 2004
Meet Prime Minister Howard
I am pleased to link, for the first time on my blog, to a Mark Steyn column. This one, from The Australian, is about recently re-elected Aussie Prime Minister John Howard, and it is full of humor and percentages. :) Here's an excerpt pertaining to PM Howard's victory in the election:
And an example of Mr. Steyn attempting (with PM Howard's assistance) to quantify ally-ness:
I believe one can argue that Australia has been America's most reliable ally for the last one hundred years or so. PM Howard has honorably upheld that tradition and all Americans should greatly appreciate Australia's support and sacrifices in the Global War on Terror.
Front-page splashes ("Angry Oz Turns On Bush Toady") were hastily shuffled to page 37 section D ("Minor Regional Figure Of No Consequence Ekes Out Victory In Election On Obscure Domestic Issues Like Interest Rates With No Wider Significance, Honest, Take Our Word For It").
And an example of Mr. Steyn attempting (with PM Howard's assistance) to quantify ally-ness:
But Howard, for a man routinely described as having no charisma, manages to hit just the right tone. The French got all the attention in the days after September 11 with that Le Monde headline – "Nous sommes tous Americains" – but even at the time I preferred Howard's take: "There's no point in a situation like this being an 80 per cent ally."
You can take that one to the bank. The "we are all Americans" stuff turned out to be not quite as straightforward as at first glance, and masked a ton of nuance, evasion, sly Yank-bashing and traditional Gallic duplicitousness as ripe as an old camembert wrapped in Dominique de Villepin's poetry. Even when they were touting that headline, the French were never more than 34 per cent allies.
I believe one can argue that Australia has been America's most reliable ally for the last one hundred years or so. PM Howard has honorably upheld that tradition and all Americans should greatly appreciate Australia's support and sacrifices in the Global War on Terror.
