I empathised with Premier Steve Bracks the other day after his son was arrested for crashing his car when he had been drink driving. Bracks was publicly scathing in his criticism of his son but you could see the deep sadness.
He said he 'felt hopeless and useless, and you can't help feeling a bit of a failure in some ways as a parent.' Now Bracks has quit politics and cited this incident as one of the reasons.
All parents fail in one respect or another and politicians have demanding lives. Bracks has worked out the tradeoffs and made a personal choice that I respect. I wish him the best.
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7 comments:
Good on him.
At least he's not a dull old fool hanging on to the position like some third world dictator.
I don't accept the implied comparison with JWH.
On this occasion, I just felt sorry for old Bracksie. He hasn't been a bad Premier.
He shows himself to be a decent bloke who cares about the things that matter.
Who's comparing him with W?
On the other hand, it's perhaps healthy to give the new generation a go.
We need something that is less vulgar than serial dictatorships of silly old buggers who've grown out of touch with contemporary Australia.
I am a little wary of the stated reasons - particularly because of Thwaite's resignation. Thwaite's is under a cloud because of his freebies.
I don't know of anything specific but it seems a bit odd for a relatively young deputy leader to resign AND retire within a year of being re-elected. His resignation also raises questions about the premier's resignation too.
Is there something on the way with Thwaites or even with both of them?
The freebies for Thwaites were an embarrassment. I don't know about Bracks. The only joint problem I can think of they face together is with respect to the Commonwealth's water iniatives.
But they could have presumably just made concessions here.
Bracks never looked a relaxed person in public. He spoke quickly and had a nervous grin. I think the pressure got to him - I assume Thwaites left for factional reasons - Brumby the smarter politician.
I'll give Bracks the benefit of the doubt.
I smell a rat.
I'm with Rabee on this -- I think its great that people retire before the painful and often self-deluded end comes. I wish people would do it more, although its hard to think of many others that have (Bob Carr being an exception).
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