Mr. Congeniality

For much of his life, Mark Latham had been living a Johnny Cash song. Born in 1961, the federal Labor leader grew up in a tough neighborhood in Sydney’s western suburbs. He was a star pupil at school, but he needed the financial help of friends to finish university. He toiled in obscure local politics longer than most. A decade ago, Latham won the federal seat once held by his mentor former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. If the public knew anything about Latham, it was likely to be for his loose tongue and parliamentary aggro rather than for his indefatigable proselytizing of Third Way ideas. But it worked. Fearing an electoral wipeout, Latham’s colleagues decided to give the “coming man” a chance to lead the Opposition last December. The new leader hasn’t changed his principles, just rediscovered discipline and moderation.

For many Laboristas, Latham has revitalized his party – and politics. The buzz he generates goes beyond Canberra. Ordinary folk are curious. Latham has even got Prime Minister John Howard’s pulse racing – something his predecessors rarely managed over the past eight years – thanks to Labor’s turnaround in opinion polls and Latham’s honeymoon with the press. A general election is due this year, and if it is fought on leadership and experience, voters will be asked to choose between a fresh-faced father of two young boys and a Prime Minister at the height of his powers who has reached retirement age. Australians have not witnessed such a contest in living memory.

Matters could hardly have gone better for Latham last week at his party’s national conference in Sydney. These events, of course, are stage-managed and controlled by Labor’s factional rocks. But delegates were on a high and they indulged their new leader. The slogan behind the lectern evoked early Tony Blair: mark latham and labor. His opening speech was reminiscent of a campaign launch (which it was, in a way), but Latham did not overdo it. He was measured, humble and did not stray from a long-standing platform. There were powerful visual images (“I want to save at the center of government and send services and assistance to communities on the edge”) as well as clever lines (Howard’s “waiting-list nation”). And, as Latham spoke from memory, with karate-chop hand gestures, somehow he seemed to embody Labor’s traditional message of “opportunity for all.”

But there is a radical heart to Latham’s pitch. Like anti-politician Howard Dean in the U.S., he acknowledges that there is something rotten at the core of politics. Latham, who wants more grass-roots participation in the process, committed himself to the great national purpose of “reinventing and revitalizing our democracy.” That he did so before the supreme policymaking body of his party was incongruous, given that Labor’s power bloc is far from ready to relinquish its traditional role. He identified too much campaign spinning and stage management as a contributor to public cynicism, but did not include his own past intemperance. Latham, a career politician, is campaigning on trust. Having said he will tear down the old politics, he will be judged on his readiness to share power and tell it straight. It took no time for Howard to accuse Latham of being “sloppy with the truth.”

Latham Mark II is not taking the bait. He is off the angry pills. Before the cameras, Latham now reflexively refers to the Conservative leader as Mr. Howard. He speaks in a controlled way about his opponents and does not show annoyance with persistent questioning or hectoring. When it comes to his own party, Latham does not travel with the baggage of being an insider or power broker – or as a front for other interests. How much will the party be prepared to bend to Latham’s command? That will depend – as it did for Whitlam and Bob Hawke – on how quickly Latham can pull in the voters.There isn’t a great deal of time for Labor. It has squandered the past two years, perhaps five. Howard has gained stature through his political mastery and his handling of national security and the economy. He senses a fight on his hands, and he loves a contest. Howard remains, by a wide margin, his government’s best strategist and communicator. When Latham was getting his tooth chipped in junior league, Howard was lining up a seat in Parliament. As Latham was finishing high school, Howard was in charge of the Australian economy. While Latham was cooling his head on the back bench, Howard was on his way to a third straight election victory. But the new Labor leader could be fomenting a political revolution. As the Man in Black might have said, ambition is a burning thing.