In the analysis of 'Faith in Politics' - Rudd's essay in the Monthly calling for more christian support of Labor, a few things have become clear. One of the best reviews of the essay came from the Australian's Christopher Pearson in his article 'Play for God and Country'. This quote, in particular the section in bold sums up best what worries me about Rudd:
There are other matters on which Rudd should be taken to task. I'd have thought it incumbent on his party's spokesman on foreign affairs, when deploring Australia's record on foreign aid, at least to have the grace to mention in passing that its forward funding commitment has more than doubled during the past four years. But that would be to misread Faith in Politics as a serious invitation to debate. Instead, I think it has to be seen as a vehicle for its author to assume a range of positions outside his portfolio in the arena of domestic politics, when his leader is registering a net disapproval rating of 16 percentage points and seems to be the main obstacle to a Labor victory at the next federal election.
Rudd most definitely seems to be seizing the 'Labor's Christian' mantle in order to establish himself in the media and allow leeway to comment on a wide array of issues without being seen as undermining Beazley's leadership. If I was Kim Beazley, Kevin Rudd is one man I would never turn my back to - Christian or not, he seems to be waiting in the shadows for his moment of opportunity.
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