Heard an interesting comment made by Pauline Hanson today - she likened Costello's arrogance to that of Paul Keating, and said she didn't think he'd ever be Prime Minister. In a way, she definitely has a point. Peter Costello and John Howard are two very different people - to be fair, Howard did have a lot of time to refine his image before returning to the front bench after some time in the wilderness.
I think that 11 years of expecting to take over the reigns from Howard any minute has kept Costello from making the hard decisions on refining his image - arrogance doesn't travel well with the electorate. It is true that a politician takes on another persona as soon as they are in the leadership of their party. What remains to be seen is if that arrogance and smug smile is swept away when Costello takes over the Coalition.
Much has been made about Howard's ability to appear modest and down to earth - 'little Johnny' has sharpened his image to appeal to his beloved 'middle' Australia. His layman's vocabulary and 'smaller than life' (he is actually a lot taller than you expect) persona are significantly different to Keating, and indeed Costello.
Costello needs to start thinking about his appeal to the electorate and doing some self anaylsis - an investment in an image consultant / personal coach would ensure he sharpens his appeal to the electorate and the backbench.
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