About Tony Abbott: we hate to say 'We told you so', but ...

"I think he will probably be a pretty good PM because he's a very sincere, nice type of human being and I think he will be very dedicated, focused in the job. And we certainly need in the economic times we're about to go into some really clear and good leadership."

The Sydney Morning Herald agreed:

'The Coalition under Tony Abbott deserves the opportunity to return trust to politics.'

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph was more gung-ho, with the huge front page banner, 'AUSTRALIA NEEDS TONY'.

Now, at last, they admit they all got it wrong.

The Daily Telegraphand Melbourne sister publication The Herald Sun ran Laurie Oakes' analysison Friday of:

'a deep feeling of hopelessness among Liberals about the hole the government finds itself in under Abbott'.

Much of 'Abbott's plight', Oakes now laments, 'is due to his own bungles and misjudgements, but his Ministers bear some responsibility. Members of Cabinet's Expenditure Review Committee had a big hand in producing a shocker of a Budget.'

Exactly. But if you are so astute, Laurie, why did you not predict this earlier?

On the Coalition's lack of vision, the mainstream media before the election failed utterly to report the obvious.

The Ageacknowledgesnow, however, that:

'If Abbott has a successor, that person has to give this government a clear, agreeable organising principle ... It needs an overarching story of the world that makes sense of the pain we're being asked to wear.'