stoush.net

Sun, 03/12/2006 - 9:09am — arleeshar

This morning, after dropping my partner at the airport at a crazy hour for his equally crazy flight to Fiji, I was bleary witness to Rudd and Gillard’s Dream Team performance on Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise, a part of their ongoing pitch to the ‘Sunrise Family’ and a ground-breaking mid-flight pitch for public support in what is traditionally an internal party matter.

Sunrise, I thought, were quite sympathetic on the whole. Andrew O’Keefe in particular appeared to be talking as though the race was won, the future was nigh and the Dream Team a reality. The Team basked in the glow of approval, Rudd repeating his “bucketload” soundbytes ad nauseum and Gillard looking competent and compliant, and thus they were slightly wrongfooted when at the end of the interview Lisa Wilkinson said something like:

“Well, the two of you have very strong body language. You look very comfortable together”,

leaving Rudd and Gillard looking slightly embarrassed, like two daggy divorcees caught snogging by their teenaged children.

This is an emerging issue for the two, who are increasingly presenting themselves using the same language, imagery and tactics as the dynamic husband-wife team who run the local Lions Club, yet are seeking to distance themselves from the sexual implications of such a partnership. An incident with the press in Brisbane revealed that they are very conscious of the implications of these tactics:

This show of solidarity did not extend to a photo with their arms around each other. “We’ve both got partners we have to respect,” Mr Rudd explained.

There’s that one photo that keeps popping up even at this early stage, the same photo taken in a variety of locations and contexts, of Gillard and Rudd on the hustings, body language of a couple of 20 years, laughing like they’ve just won lotto. He’s speaking about her abilities with husbandly respect and affection, while she demurely smiles and deflects most questions for “Kevin” to answer with authority, showing him off in his best light. It’s almost Brady in its perfection, and they’re trying to make it Brady in its sexlessness.

Much of the impetus for this of course stems from Gillard’s gender – she is the one under the spotlight here, not so much Rudd - but it also stems from the perception that Gillard is more talented than Rudd and, while playing a supportive figure, she would be the driving force behind any popularity that the team might be able to drum up. The scrutiny she faces is linked to her power, and to the way Gillard would approach a role as deputy leader.

Inevitably, Gillard’s pitch is going to be compared to Jenny Macklin’s, her ‘new generation’ line positioned against Macklin’s association with the tired old generation. Yet while we are trained to see an older man’s supercession as a natural political movement, his retirement as an acknowledgement that his time for active life is over and his work is done, we have no entrenched frame of reference for this public political contest between two women. Instead, we revert to old associations, like a favourite coat; women, whose work is never done, traditionally contest a sexual sphere and we are increasingly learning to recognise Gillard as the femme fatale, Macklin as the older woman she replaces.

This is of course furthered by Gillard’s overt fantapants sexualisation by sections of the politics-following public, including Crikey and much of the blogosphere – as one commenter noted on a recent thread:

Personally, I have more time for the Bomber than Kruddy but it doesn’t really matter. And I am not sure if I can cope with Gillard being on TV too much more as she does things to me that politicians shouldn’t.

We share a societal propensity to sexualise powerful women; if Bronwyn Bishop or Amanda Vanstone, then they either evoke a nanny fantasy or are ridiculed for their lack of sexual attractiveness, if Gillard, they are the femme fatale. It’s entrenched in all of us, and I’m not seeking to diminish my own participation in this fantasy.

This association is not contradicted or depleted by Macklin’s pitch earlier this weekend, which emphasised her motherly stability, casting her not as a political contender but as a supporter and salad maker:

“My No.1 quality over the last five years has been the way in which I have demonstrated my trustworthiness to my colleagues, providing stability and calm during what have been very difficult times for Labor.”

She’s Auntie Jenny, who raised three kids only to lose her place in the household for the Other Woman. I am yet to meet anybody who has a domination fantasy about Macklin, although I concede that anything is possible in a world where Steve Irwin is a national hero.

It is also implied in speculation as to whether Gillard, strategically, has attached herself to Rudd as the nearest point of power, and whether she would be equally available for Kim Beazley’s use as deputy should he retain personal power in caucus.

Anyway, if the Dream Team prevails at tomorrow’s caucus, we’re set to see more of this. I will be interested to see how long they can maintain the Brady façade without succumbing to a public backlash; it will depend, as always, on the quality of their spin doctors. I wish them luck.