Tuesday, 9 March 2004, Alexander Downer:
CATHERINE MCGRATH: […] You’d be very keen to see George W. Bush back wouldn’t you?
ALEXANDER DOWNER: Look, in the end this isn’t a matter for Australia. We don’t have a vote in the American presidential election, we just have to deal with whoever wins the election. And whatever John Howard or I, or anybody else may think privately, we’d never say anything publicly about the elections of a foreign country.
Monday, 12 February 2007, John Howard:
If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.
Monday, 12 February 2007, Alexander Downer:
I hate to disappoint people who don’t agree with John Howard and me and the Australian Government but it’s a free world and we are entitled to a point of view.
This is a very big issue, many governments around the world feel very strongly about it.
More thoughts on this little circus sideshow later.
Pretty pathetic isn’t it? I think it was a totally inappropriate comment by Howard. My husband wondered if this would create difficulties for Australia’s relationship with the US if Obama became president? My response was that I hoped Howard would no longer be PM by that point.
I think politicians must really hate the Internet. Once upon a time it must have been quite hard to match up what they said even a few months ago with what they are saying today - now all it takes is a vague memory of the earlier quote and 20 secons on Google.
Fortunately I think Obama (unlike some politicians) is intelligent enough to distinguish between one man and an entire nation. (I also think he’s highly, highly unlikely to even get the nomination, let alone the Presidency).