No 'maybes', only 'buts': the rhetorical art of the Prime Minister

The author reflects on the rhetorical aspect of the government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard. In her thesis 'Quarterly Essay: Relaxed and Comfortable: The Liberal Party's Australia,' Judith Brett claims that the strength of the prime minister lies in his ability to articulate ideas about Australian life. An assumption that the Howard rhetoric is about reassurance and re-enforcement of past certainties is said to contradict the fundamental radical nature of the program he pursued.