well finally people are judging bonsai johnny(he is a little bush) i remember 12 years ago when i was in jail (supply of amphetamine)and he declared a war on drugs .i wrote to him and offered my expertize in solving the drug problem .i got no reply i have now started my own political party junkies against crime liberation front.in order to protect Australian kids from the people like john Howard who have a anti drug stance that spreads lies and ignorance and drags more people into drug addiction that is generally an incurable disease thanks to half wits like him that believe people can be punished out of this illness .we intend to try him for treason as he declared a war on an unarmed ,poor ,politically unrepresented ,unfit to fight (thru intentional denial of medical aid)section of his own people so if he is found guilty when we win the next election.and he is tried by a jury of his peers if he is convicted i will personally behead him with a samurai sword on the lawn of parliament house as an object lesson for all who exploit the weak in this society .as for academics and intellectuals judging him name one of them that has ever pointed out why the drug laws are not legal because people own governments and not governments own people these moral prostitutes have sat on their hands for 4 generations and let the lives and self determination of addicts be upseruped by the state because the states propaganda said they deserved it like the Jews in Nazi Germany and the witches in the Spanish inquisition deserved it.regards the motorcycle messiah.

Yes but ! The only Historical comparison , Howard "Henery the fifth" and Rudd "Puck".

Chris Lewis,

I understand, you were examining public perceptions rather than political or economic reality,however you introduced selective statistics into your article when they were in fact irrelevant. I'd say that if many political scientists and others indeed hate the Howard government it's because they can see behind the phoney debt fuelled "growth". I agree with you that the factors that led to Howard's success should be examined-I'd bet that these were 9/11,the Bali bombings and the minerals boom,just luck.You don't have to be a political scientist to understand that the voters give credit to, or blame the incumbent government for current economic or political conditions,even if the causes are international or due to the polices of some previous administration.

The Lying Rodent.

I miss the Rodent.

When I was living overseas (Hey did you catch that Romany?) I decided I wouldn't enter the country again while he was still PM. I hated him soooo much. I loved hating him. I could blame anything wrong with Australia on him. I could blame any human failings in other people like Bigotry and Racism and Selfishness and Materialism on Him. I'd read the SMH letters section and read coments by all these people who I didn't know, but I knew we had a special bond in hating John W Howard. The Rodent. They were great days!

I didn't keep to my word and came back to OZ while he was still PM. But, I was blessed to be in his electorate, or did I plan that? Now I can live comfortably on the knowledge I had a hand in ousting a fine politician who lead the country with distinction and replaced him with a some Journalist who looked quite attractive, who I have never seen since. It was sooo sweet at the time!

Such is politics. But Oh I miss him now.

The Chinese albino dentist isn't worthy of hate, just ridicule.

Motorcyclemessiah:

Just before you ascend bulli pass waving your boxing glove in the air, think on this. Maybe you and your ilk are the real issue and a greater threat to society than was ever John Howard

One has to suspect that this article is part of a current effort directed seemingly at moulding much of popular memory of the Howard years into believing they were somehow less appalling than they actually were.

That way it can be manipulated to accept another incompetent, yet nasty, "slash and burn" style Federal Coalition Government as less unpalatable than the current incompetent Federal Labor Government.

A number of articles in Rupert Murdoch's Australian are also pushing this view. These include "Rudd demeans himself over history" at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26055356-7583,00.html and the editorial "And another thing ..." at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26051033-25209,00.html

In reality, it is almost impossible to exaggerate the awfulness of the Howard Government.

It's so-called much ballyhooed economic 'reforms' (as were the economic 'reforms' of the previous Hawke and Keating Governments) were little more than yet another "Disaster Capitalist" style operation to loot publicly owned wealth and to steal from the poor in order to line the pockets of the Australian and overseas wealthy elite.

It was carried out very much in the mould of so many other instances chronicled in Naomi Klein's towering work "The Shock Doctrine" of 2007. (which I have also raised over at http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2009/09/11/weekend-reflections-138/comment-page-1/#comment-244592 BTW).

The article touches on the Iraq war, which Chris Lewis claims to have opposed, but neglects any mention of the Australian Wheat Board scandal in whihc AU$297million of bribe money was paid to the regime of Saddam Hussein prior to the invasion.

Like the majority of Australians, I believe that the Australian Government ,including John Howard and Alexander Downer, knew full well what was going on at the time. If we are right, then Howard, Downer and a few other Ministers are criminals and belong behind bars. (tobecontinued)