Rudd has no option but to use exaggerated hyperbole to attack the Govt on grounds of economic fairness. There is little, except for some fixing up around the edges, that he can do to make the economy more 'fair, just or equitable'. Thus, he descends into hyperbole, rightfully criticising the state of the society/economy, but unable to do anyhting to change it.
Governments are held at the mercy of international finance and big capital - If Rudd even looked like taking concrete steps to a reformed, socially just economy (including any expansion of govt services it would entail), he would be stopped in his tracks. Not to mention the weight of the domestic print/TV media that would be turned against him.
It seems as though he's taking a similar line Blair has taken against the Tories, galvanising opposition to economic injustice yet solidifying the institutional base of said injustice. See when he says, 'I'm an economic conservative'. We're apparently all neo-liberals now.
Even Latham, who was economically orthodox, was labelled an 'envy merchant' of sorts when attempting to rectify educational funding, and blasted for his proposed extension of Medicare. (fiscally responsible or not, I think it was the mere principle of expanding govt provision of healthcare that made the media so hostile to Medicare Gold). The point, I think, is that Rudd is bound by (among other things) a deeply conservative political culture, which sees all thought independent of entrenched power as subversive. See, for example, the ubiquitious pandering to American alliance on both sides of politics (i.e. American b1tch status). Another reason, incidentally, why Latham was so hated by the elites.
It seems, in politics, the more independent in policy/philosophy a group or politician is, the more they get slandered. The Greens have been hammered by the Tory press for years now, often in acts of thinly veiled propaganda. It is much safer to be 'conservative' than independent (or 'kooky' as the PM would say.)
This has turned basically into a general rant on politics in Aus, of which Rudd finds himself a part. He will be better for the general population of Australia than Howard, but not by the degree that voters disenchanted with Howard might expect.
My 2c, from someone eager to cast their first vote next year.
