Rudd’s rhetoric, 100 days in

Howard pledged to govern “for all of us”, and set about defining who “we” are in opposition to other groups, whom he called “they” or “them”. His clearest example was during the 2001 debate about refugees, when he said, “We will decide who comes to this country - and the circumstances in which they come”.

By contrast, Rudd speaks to and about people directly. So he uses the word “you” to the person or people he is addressing. He talks about individuals as “he/his/him” and “she/her” constantly as he tells little stories about their experiences, bringing their personal stories into his ongoing stories about the nation, about his government, and about himself.

In the apology speech, notice how seamlessly he worked the experiences of Nanna Fejo into his bigger story about the stolen generations: Rudd told us how “she asked me to say …” to the parliament and the people of Australia.

Compare Nelson’s clumsy use of the Faye Lynam story. He or his speechwriters had drawn the words from the National Library’s oral history collection, but not actually spoken to Lynam directly - even though she is still very much alive. This distance was typical of a speech in which Nelson sounded cold and disconnected where Rudd sounded warm and engaged.

Throughout his career, Howard was forever the litigating solicitor. Every remark was legitimating one perspective and de-legitimating another. But Rudd is forever trying to turn all the stories of each of us into the one story of all of us.

In this respect, Rudd has the rhetorical style of a parson. Given his obvious pride in his own religion, I suspect he would be pretty comfortable with this comparison. Note his peculiar turns of phrase, such as “in due season”. These are a distinctive Rudd version of the dog whistle: most people notice how quaint and old-fashioned they are, which is harmless enough, but many Australians hear the echoes of biblical rhetoric as well. This is particularly true for conservative Australians, a group Rudd is constantly reaching out to. For every season, turn, turn.

I do not think Rudd is trying to make all Australians Christians, but he is trying to make us believe in his government. And he will definitely carry on sermonising and counselling as he tends to the souls of his great southern parish, Australia.