Not eloquent, but effective

Prime Minister Tony Abbott may not be a good public orator or rhetorician but that does not make him a poor statesman.

Politicians lack training in the skills of oratory and rhetoric. Lawyers no longer leave their law offices and advocacy training to pursue the oratory of public policy argument.

The political sphere is the province of the professional staffer who seeks preselection then public office, devoid of imagination or inspiration.

Once upon a time lawyer politicians filled the parliamentary chambers with their rhetorical flourishes, their oration, their capacity to turn pieces of legislation on elegant argument.

Not any more. Parliament and politics is reductive to the point of boredom.

The argument, as we have seen, is personal. Witness the opposition spokeswoman on foreign affairs persuading us to be embarrassed because the prime minister is going to embarrass us in the global public sphere.

Note the future tense. Tanya Plibersek presented us with a future scenario – the inevitability of Mr Abbott, when overseas, doing and saying silly things.

The left-of-centre media were keen to pick up the idea given that the older narrative of Mr Abbott as bully and misogynist was all but dead, buried and cremated.

Mr Abbott visited with a number of leaders of conservative governments and with the Democrat leader of the free world, President Barack Obama.

Mr Abbott acquitted himself well. Despite the best efforts of the left-of-centre news media to divert and destroy.

The Australian news media has developed a binary position in Australian politics; it is divided along political lines favouring conservatives (Liberals, Nationals, The Australian, The Bolt Report versus Greens, Labor, ABC, Fairfax, for example).

No matter how good Mr Abbott's diplomatic skills or statesman-like presence - his ability to expand global policy and Australia's effective presence in world trade - left-of-centre media scratch around until they find what they consider a weakness and go hard to exploit it.

Mr Abbott speaks slowly. Sometimes excruciatingly, painfully enunciating an argument for media consumption.

His non-speaking capabilities away from the camera, however, appear to indicate he has strong relationship-building skills that are both verbal and non-verbal.

He is the first of the modern crop of Australian prime ministers to have a physical presence and sporting capabilities. In a world where sport plays a major role in the lives of most Australian children and adults, Whitlams, Frasers, Hawkes, Keatings, Howards, Rudds and Gillards proved relatively incapable.

For a man his age Mr Abbott demonstrates strong capabilities. Combined with his academic qualifications they present a formidable defence.

But today's world requires skill sets to be highly specialised – a generalist is no longer seen as being of value. The media supports this premise because as individuals they rarely have generalist skills themselves.

They have been trained in theoretical concepts. They abhor physicality because it mirrors their inadequacies. They like to frame Mr Abbott's surfing, cycling and running as bogan activities unbecoming of a national leader. Yet Mr Obama golfs. David Cameron runs and cycles.

Mr Abbott builds global relationships across political boundaries. He has engaged successfully with China, Japan, Indonesia, England, Canada and the United States.

He has not, as far as I am aware, enunciated a position on Scottish independence but it would be relatively easy to determine by mapping his previous diplomacy.

What frustrates the left is Mr Abbott's capacity to withstand and absorb their blows. He is a formidable opponent and this usually commands respect from oppositions on or off the field of sport, battle or politics.

There is nothing usual about Australian politics, however, and part of the reason lies in the inability of many of its members to enunciate a coherent argument on an issue.

Oratory and rhetoric have been displaced by personal attack. Left-of-centre politicians and media mock Mr Abbott's pronunciation, his use of schoolboy French and his stilted, hesitating method of speech.

Yet they ignore his overall presence in the public sphere, a presence which is measured and effective in diplomacy and statesmanship.

I would go as far as to say history will judge Mr Abbott's diplomacy, communication and statesmanship comparatively with the best of the modern era if he can maintain his dual strategy; measured, staccato media delivery, combined with a more natural relationship-building as he locates himself in the global public sphere.