I’m down in Melbourne for a few days to launch My Israel Question tonight and speak tomorrow at Trades Hall and a large pro-Palestine rally in the centre of the city.
So I opened the Age newspaper to find this embarrassingly parochial story on page one of the paper:
John Howard was the man of steel. Now Kevin Rudd, it seems, has been anointed the world’s nerd-in-chief.
Former US president Bill Clinton has heaped praise on the Australian Prime Minister’s grey matter in front of an audience of 400 celebrities and world leaders.
”In my opinion, he is one of the most well informed, well read, intelligent leaders in the world today,” Mr Clinton said.
Looking on were Hollywood stars including Demi Moore, Matt Damon and Ben Stiller, as well as East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
But Mr Clinton, who had breakfast with Mr Rudd earlier in the week, gave the impression that Our Kev was the smartest guy in the room.
Wow, Rudd is such an impressive man, is there anything he can’t do?