Howard's reconciliation pitch - come to me, come to me....I'm your leader!

First the boot is put into refugees, muslims, aboriginal men in the NT, and any other soft targets of a good dog whistle. Now we have the hand wringing mode, a tortuous inner bleaching of the dark soul and an admission that he may have been part of the problem.

Well Mr PM, let me assure you are a big part of the problem. Reconciliation has been put so far back on your watch enlightened indigenous leaders like Noel Pearson have become so desperate to see some progress for their communities, they find themselves snookered behind your simple minded logic of integration and mainstreaming.

Small 'l' Liberals across the land have been fleeing the Howard war camp as it lines up one weak, marginal group after another for being un-Australian and in need of 're-training' in market orthodoxies. The racial attacks of Andrews on Sudanese refugees, one of the most vulnerable groups to ever seek shelter here, was really scraping a well scraped barrel, and I thought 'here we go again!'.

Next thing, its all reconciliation and don't you worry about that! If I was an outer galactic observer, I would see how our leader morphs as he passes from one bunch of electors to another, desperately seeking more power, and failing that, a semblance of a social policy legacy beyond Tampa, children overboard, Nauru, Muslim baiting, aboriginal bashing, & Sudanese vilification. Good luck and g'day.