Gen X Journey

I’m a bit ashamed by the behaviour of our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. He’s gone all teenage girl, and quite frankly, as an Australian, I find such behaviour from a grown man and leader of our nation, quite embarrassing.

Teenage girl you ask? Isn’t he a dorky little nerd with glasses and a loose grip on the Australian vernacular. It’s a big leap to teenage girl if you’re going by physical appearance, but have a look at his behaviour. Kevin is an ostraciser. Yes, this is the same Kevin who jumped on the anti-bullying bandwagon just two weeks ago, displays the weapon of choice of most teenage girls, and that is the snub.

Poor old NSW Premier Kristina Kenneally was the victim of Kev’s latest snub. Apparently she didn’t really want to join in Kev07’s game of Big Brother Takes Over the Hospital System and Kevin responded in the only way he knows how–with a good old girly snub. You know, the good old no-eye-contact-nose-in-air-I’m-not-talking-to-you snub. Any girl who went to high school knows that particular snub. Boys you’ve had it too. Remember when you tried to crack onto that sort at the nightclub and well, you crashed and burned. Yep, you were snubbed.

Of course Kev has been a snubbing victim himself. Remember when George Bush didn’t include him as a Facebook friend. Actually I just made that up, but Bush did leave him out of his G20 online photo album. Kev would have been devastated by that (and I’m not making that bit up). He holds stuff like being in the cool group in great stead.

You can understand where Kev is coming from though. Just imagine what high school would have been like for him. I know I’m judging, but just have a look at the man. God he would have copped it at school. He was a dweeb, non-sporty, wore glasses, had/has really, really awful hair and likes to use really long words. He joined the Labor Party when he was 15. He might as well have painted a big target on his back.

And guess what? Now he’s become PM he’s turned into a bully himself. Remember the abuse levelled at a RAAF flight attendant for not having his “special” meal. When he first took office 17 staff members resigned. Apparently Rudd is prone to “losing his temper frequently” and “he doesn’t give positive feedback”. Gosh if you don’t like his political reforms he just won’t talk to you–and that means you Kristina Kenneally, but not you Anna Bligh, he likes you which he demonstrated by his “smiliness” and “friendliness”. Poor Kristina must have been devastated, or maybe not.

It’s probably to be expected though, the man has never had a “real” job, and by that I mean a job where he has to negotiate his way in the real world, not the artificial bureaucracy and diplomacy that is Canberra and politics. And now he’s PM he gets to hang out with all the cool people who would never have given him the time of day back in high school. I mean people like actor Cate Blanchett and singer Peter Garrett to whom he gave a ministry (and wasn’t that a wise decision), and he’s actually got the president of the USA coming over for a playdate.

And not only that he gets to go on TV, a lot. I don’t mean boring old political shows where journalists get to ask questions on boring stuff like the ecomony and the environment. Kevin chooses to go on shows where he can hang with the cool folk, shows like Good News Week where he can be all witty and clever, Rove (where he talks about bottom wipers for obese people) and Sunrise, the show that actually launched his political career (thanks for that Mel and Kochie).

But for me the definitive Kevin Rudd moment was the ear wax eating incident. I always have to play it twice as I squirm so much when I watch it (90% disgust for me, 10% embarrassment for him). Fortunately ear wax eating is not a characteristic of a teenage girl.