Me Tooism All Round

Today must be a painful day for Rudd's critics after Howard's announced support for symbolic reconciliation, a stance long held by Labor and consistently rejected by the conservatives champion John Howard:

The Prime Minister has overturned more than a decade of opposition to reconciliation involving symbolism, reviving the idea of a constitutional recognition of the achievements and the place of indigenous people in Australia.

"I believe we must find room in our national life to formally recognise the special status of Aboriginal (people) and Torres Strait Islanders as the first peoples of our nation," he said last night.

Ouch! There is of course good reason to feel cynical about the timing of such a turnaround, and many already do, but in the main such an announcement should be welcome. Symbolic gestures can go a long way toward putting the past behind us eternally by recognising it, then moving on, and I think Howard may have now realised this, albeit after 11 years of saying the opposite and on the eve of an election in which he faces defeat, but are there really any votes to score from it? I'm doubtful.

What will of course be fun to watch is what his barrackers will now do. Will they continue to denounce symbolism as they always have, or will they now tow Howard's line? I can't wait!

UPDATE:

I found this possibility expressed at Larvatus Prodeo very interesting:

'Howard is trying to get both Labor and the broader progressive left talking about apologies, treaties, land rights, shared sovereignty, …and scare some “cultural conservatives” who switched to Labor because of WorkChoices back into the Coalition camp. At worst for Howard, Rudd clamps down on any such talk within Labor ranks, thus sending people who care about such issues (and, perhaps, things like opposition to the death penalty) into further despair.'

Since I'm not at all convinced that his turnaround is a vote grabber I find the above, as an alternative to him being honest, far move believable.

UPDATE 2:

Some evidence of LP's theory is arising. The debate on apologies has been revived to a degree with Howard making this statement this morning:

"From my point of view and the point of view of millions of Australians, to go down the apology road, is simply to try and deal with the matter through apportionment of blame and guilt," he said.

"And impliedly at the very least, a repudiation of a history of a nation which I believe has been profoundly positive."

This is old, yet effective, ground for Howard. If he can keep this going as an issue for the entire election campaign it may indeed prove to be disastrous for Labor. And, if it grants them victory, after the dust has settled Indigenous Australian's will realise that winning was all it was about. For their sakes, and the for the harmony of the country, I hope this is wrong.