{"id":28045,"date":"2016-08-05T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T01:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=28045"},"modified":"2016-08-04T14:30:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T04:30:09","slug":"rudds-run-race-un-secretary-generalship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rudds-run-race-un-secretary-generalship\/","title":{"rendered":"Rudd\u2019s run: the race for the UN secretary-generalship"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Now everyone\u2019s had their say. Some branded the decision to not nominate Kevin Rudd for UN Secretary General as puerile and pathetic<\/a>, while others preferred to pretend the decision was simply a \u2018difficult\u2019 one<\/a> on which to make a call. One brave soul has even suggested that Rudd\u2019s bid for power mightn\u2019t be over yet<\/a>, and that the former PM still has a chance of getting the gig by being nominated by a future President Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019d suggest that even advancing such a scenario demonstrates a unique detachment from reality. The real point about Rudd\u2019s bid is that the entire affair has occupied far more space in the media than it ever deserved. The best treatment of the entire issue probably came from sketch-writer Tony Wright<\/a>. A keen observer of the Australian scene, he was far more concerned about chronicling the slow hiss of deflating egos, rather than rushing in to join the queues waiting to either praise or condemn Turnbull\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n The key point about the entire affair is something we in the media far too often lose sight of here in Australia. Rudd was a rank outsider. Even Gareth Evans, one of the former PM\u2019s boosters, admitted as much on The Strategist<\/em> on Tuesday. Evans suggested<\/a> Rudd was, \u2018at best, a fairly long-shot candidate\u2019. The former Foreign Minister was being far too diplomatic. What he should have said is that Rudd had no chance at all. And that\u2019s really the key to interpreting the entire episode.<\/p>\n For Rudd\u2019s bid to succeed it would have been necessary for everybody to: a) forget the desire to see a woman occupying the position, b) ignore precedent suggesting an East European should get the job, c) suggest Rudd could have overcome a dozen other credible candidates who\u2019ve already put themselves forward for the job, bolstered by the support of their governments, d) brush over the reality that even before the cabinet decision there was far less than unanimous backing for Rudd within Labor, let alone the government and e) dismiss the fact that Rudd had run a dysfunctional office as PM and there has never been any indication that he\u2019s changed his ways.<\/p>\n It beggars belief to even suggest Rudd could ever have been a plausible candidate.<\/p>\n Begin at this point and the discussion within Cabinet decision comes into clearer focus. Some, like Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, were indeed opposed to Rudd on domestic political grounds, but it would be wrong to insist that Julie Bishop\u2019s proposal didn\u2019t begin from a similar basis.<\/p>\n