The American spin on this from the media will, of course, be “Bush further isolated in his policies,” but the reality is that in democracies sometimes people just get tired of a particular leader.  Howard and his party had ruled for 11 years, and I’m thinking that perhaps Australians were just a little fatigued by him and wanted a fresh face.

The new Prime Minister, one Kevin Rudd (seen here eating his own ear wax) is promising a new direction in the Iraq war, which is obviously the most important issue concerning Americans.  But the reality per this article Australia’s policy on Iraq is unlikely to change much:

The new P.M. is likely to go Howard’s way on foreign policy, too. What he described as “fundamental differences” with Howard — his vows to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and pull troops from Iraq — are largely symbolic.

It’s sad to see someone who has been such a friend to America lose power, but it seems like there’s plenty of room for Bush to work with this new guy as well.