Kevin might actually win!

Marr’s essay does reveal that Rudd has a management problem. Australia is run under a Westminster system of government by Cabinet. But with Rudd acting as the information blocking point, and over-working the very dedicated Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, this system is frustrated. Rudd needs to do a mea culpa, address the management problem, and get the system working again. It is actually an easy problem to fix.

Lastly, there is the propensity to get angry. But as Peter Garrett noted on Q & A, everybody gets angry at some point. At least it shows that Rudd cares about the details. At any rate, anger is a solve-able problem. Kevin could just ask Belinda Neal for some advice. But anger is better than indifference on policy issues.

On substance Kevin Rudd actually has some appealing qualities. Rudd made the right call on the GFC. Scarily, the Coalition wanted to go the other way and to reduce government spending. But no stimulus and reduced spending could have lead to a severe recession. Rudd is engaging in crucial reform on welfare, health and education. Rudd’s image management skills have been poor of late. But a prime minister has to be judged on substance not style.

Labor could panic and try and replace Rudd, or Rudd could panic and do something silly. It would be a shame if that happened because in a strange way Marr’s essay makes plain the best reasons for persevering with Rudd. He might actually do a substantial amount of good … and most of us don’t have to work under him.