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Chrenkoff to enjoy all of the good news from Australia. Today, Australian voters rejected that country’s anti-war party (supported by John Kerry’s expatriate sister), and effectively gave the Liberal/Coalition party of Prime Minister Howard 52.5% of the vote. The Liberal/Coalition gained seats and Chrenkoff says it may win outright control of the Senate, a rare state of affairs in Australia.
Chrenkoff notes that the election results represent “good news for the ‘forces of liberation’ and a huge slap in the face of both the domestic and international left. [They] break the ‘Madrid hex’ and show that backing the US in the war on terror and the war in Iraq is not a political suicide” In addition, Howard’s triumph saves President Bush from a few days of bad press in the U.S.
Chrenkoff cautions, however, that the Australian election was not primarily about Iraq. Rather, the election “has largely been fought over domestic issues: the economic management, interest rates, health and education spending. . . .Iraq and terrorism were very much secondary issues, except for the rabid activists and the commentariat who were maintaining the rage while the average person has already moved on.” Even so, the results represent “a vindication of all that Howard has done on the international scene since September 11.”
Let’s hope that President Bush receives the same vindication next month. 52.5 percent of the vote would be just fine.

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