from Crikey ….. 

Mungo: Costello the Yellow becomes Peter the Great 

Mungo MacCallum writes: 

If you believe everything you read, the Liberal Party is poised to forgive and forget 12 years of indolence, cowardice, arrogance and self-indulgence. 

Not only that but it has decided that these are the very qualities that can propel it back into government. All Peter Costello has to do is nod his head, and the leadership is his. Such is the trust his colleagues now have in him that they will not even require him to spend a brief period in an iron lung, to check whether he would finally be prepared to work in one. It has taken just seven and a half months in opposition to turn Yellow Costello, the man who never was, into Peter the Great, conservative Messiah.  

The proposition appears so unlikely that one’s first instinct is to dismiss it as fantasy, one of the alternative political realities indulged in by the political staff of The Australian. However, it is just possible that the Libs have hit the same level of desperation that persuaded them to offer Alexander Downer the leadership in 1994.  

Certainly even his most dedicated supporter (Nick Minchin) seems to have given up on Brendan Nelson following the great climate change fiasco, but while the inevitability of Malcolm Turnbull is now accepted by all but the terminally naïve, there is still a powerful faction that is determined to delay it as long as possible. Another stopgap might make sense, given that it is still more than two years to the next election and statistics suggest that it is impossible for a first-up opposition leader to become prime minister and very difficult even for the second choice; the job normally turns over at least three times before it leads back to the treasury benches.  

But none of the possible candidates seems willing to raise a hand, and in any case there are problems about all of them. Joe Hockey? Too casual. Julie Bishop? Too West Australian. Tony Abbott? Too demented.  

Thus those Libs who believe they can restrict Rudd Labor to three years in the same way they restricted Whitlam Labor are drawn, in many case reluctantly, to Yesterday’s Man. Obviously they emphasise his strong points: He is a good performer in parliament when he can be bothered; no one is better at kicking a weakened opponent to death. And he is a relic of the economic boom. While no sensible person would give him the credit for the good times, he is at least a reminder of them.  

But this can easily be turned against him. Costello the spendthrift, the prodigal son who p-ssed the nation’s wealth up against a wall, presided over 10 interest rate rises and bequeathed us a recession we did not have to have. For many of the Hawke-Keating years John Howard was derided as “the failed former treasurer;” it would be easy to award Peter Costello the same title.  

At best installing him would be a big risk, assuming that the Murdoch press can persuade him to give his supporters the nod. But perhaps after nearly a year of effective unemployment, he -- and they -- no longer feel there is a choice.

From the SMH
Eek! Keating's slight of the nong jibe

Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating says John Howard and Peter Costello were "the biggest pair of policy bums the country has ever had''.

Mr Keating today slammed the Liberal Party for reconsidering Mr Costello as a leadership candidate, calling the former treasurer a "nong'' and a "mouse'' in an acerbic attack at a book launch in Sydney today.

He said Mr Costello had "not made one valuable structural change in the 12 years he was treasurer''.

"He's a guy without imagination and he is a guy without courage. That point was proven by the fact he let (former prime minister) Howard stay there for so long,'' he said.

"It's a Liberal Party so bereft of talent that they have to go to such a low-grade performer as Costello to come back as their leader.''

Senior Liberals have said Mr Costello will not challenge Brendan Nelson for the Liberal leadership but may agree to a "friendly takeover'' if Dr Nelson stands aside, according to News Ltd reports.

Mr Keating said such a move would be ruinous for the opposition but good for Labor.

"In national terms, to have such a nong - and he is, in policy terms he is a mouse - to have him back again, speaks volumes about the Liberal Party,'' Mr Keating said.

"In Labor Party terms, I sort of hope he does, as he makes it a better pitch for us.''

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull, also a potential leadership contender, says Mr Costello, who last year denied wanting the top job, has the right to take his time on the matter.

and then:

Little brother never born to rule

Miranda Devine
August 7, 2008

All the naggers and bossy boots urging Peter Costello to shove aside Brendan Nelson and seize the Liberal leadership, are missing a key ingredient of the former treasurer's personality: birth order.

Costello, like his former prime minister and sometime nemesis, John Howard, is the younger of a dominating brother. (In Howard's case, it was three brothers). And pop psychology tells us that birth order and possible sibling rivalry is crucial in shaping character.

Howard's older brothers treated "Little Johnny" with benign condescension, which could only have secretly spurred him on to show them a thing or two.

As a child, Costello, 50, has said he "lived in fear of his elder brother", Tim, two years older, now a Baptist minister, the chief executive of World Vision Australia and always an anxious competitor for public attention.

"Now you've got to remember that I was a younger brother, so for most of my life I was intimidated and bullied by my older brother," Peter told ABC radio in 2006. "He did try to electrocute me once [when I was four or five].

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Brother!!! Hey Miranda,
If the elder son mostly club the last born, there are still some last born kiddies that pip the older ones to the post. Thus I believe your spiel today was wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, especially reminding us from the start of the exception that broke the rule into a smoldering pulp: John Howard...

No Miranda, Pete is barely leadership material and he knows it... He does not have the "killer instinct" ... or... is he really waiting to be anointed king of the potty at a kindergarten tea party, by default? Yes Malcolm, Pete has the right to take his time on the matter... Ah... indecision! indecision!...