Oct

12

He was rrr …

October 12, 2007 | Comments Off | Joshua Gans

There is a classic episode of Happy Days that I was thinking about today. The Fonz actually did something wrong and was forced by Richie to apologise. He couldn’t say “I was wrong.” It kept coming out as “I was rrrr.” Then he finally says, “I was not exactly right.” (The Internet failed me in coming up with the exact quote).

The whole deal with the PM on reconciliation got me thinking about that. He said:

In a highly personal and extraordinary admission, Mr Howard said his journey to this point ” has not been without sidetracks and dry gullies”.

And he laid part of the blame for his failures on the era in which he was born, saying: “The challenge I have faced around indigenous identity politics is in part an artefact of who I am and the time in which I grew up.”

In this he does better than The Fonz; let’s call it passing the ‘Fonz test.’ For a politician, that is pretty good. Given that we need consensus to get any referendum passed in this country, I would have settled for less. Ayee.


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