Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Has the Howard Government finally jumped the shark?

Dan (be nice to one another) alerted me to the fantastic concept of "jumping the shark". In an episode of the TV series Happy Days, the character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli jumps over a shark while waterskiing (still wearing his black leather jacket). This moment has been defined as "jumping the shark". Its creators describe it as 'the defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill.'

Has PM John Howard and his Coalition government finally jumped the shark? It seems Malcolm MacKerras thinks he has, while Club Troppo appears less convinced. If Howard has jumped the shark, what was the defining moment? Was it Howard's attack on US Senator Barack Obama? Or perhaps the promise of 70 additional troops (advisers) for Iraq?

2 comments:

Daniel Hunt said...

The 'surge' represents the Iraq War's jump the shark moment, and John Howard's support of it could therefore be a jump the shark moment for him. In fact, Howard's blatant indiscriminate pro-Bush stance (of which the Obama outburst is merely a symptom) is probably the thing that upsets most people, even his otherwise erstwhile supporters. So Howard and Bush are jumping the shark together, hand in hand.

Nicholas Goodwin said...

Totally agree bro, now it looks like their mate, Tony B, has seen the shark too and is pulling out.