Can't agree on 'lack of balls' as PC's reason for not stepping forward immediately after the Lib defeat. Politics is a dirty business, and the bunny (a word I use after some search for the right descriptor) who leads the Opposition immediately after such a defeat is (mixing my metaphors horribly) a sacrifical lamb. Whatever he does, he's going to be perceived by the voters to be a failure (or at least associated with failure), so no leader with aspirations of a successful punt for the Big Job some time in the future wants to be placed in that position if he can avoid it.
Costello might "be convinced" to step forward in the near future, but I suspect he'll wait until the threat of a double dissolution (hopefully) passes, because I don't think he wants to take Our Kev on in another election just yet. The poster who mentioned above that the Libs wanted to throw the 2007 election because they knew a bad time was approaching isn't the first to say just that. I saw the same opinion in an article in The Australian long before JH called the 2007 election. (However, I think I'd be safe in saying they didn't know just how bad it was going to be!)
However, nothing's a given in politics, and who knows who else might have come to the fore in the meantime? We can only hope there's someone out there among the younger crop of Libs who might come into the light to take the reins.
Last edited by Wiley; 19th May 2009 at 03:16.