Julia Gillard has teared up while heaping praise on America as the beacon of hope for humanity and the nation that can do anything it sets its mind on. You can watch the full speech here.
Only the fourth Australian PM to deliver a speech to a joint sitting of the US Congress, Ms Gillard charmed her audience which was bolstered with numerous school children and Congressional aides, drawing 16 sustained rounds of applause in all - two of which lasted into minutes, and six of which were standing ovations.
The delighted response came as the Australian leader repeatedly told US lawmakers that Australia stood with them, through thick and thin, war and peace, boom-time and recession.
“You have a true friend down under,” she told the packed House of Representatives in the Capitol.
“Americans can do anything,” she said laying on compliments as thickly as any Australian prime minister has. “There is a reason the world always looks to America. Your great dream, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, inspires us all.”
Time and again, she stroked the American ego, stressing Australia’s undying loyalty, unstinting support and unflinching one-ness on everything from security matters, to economic issues and cultural values. Recalling her feelings when she watched the lunar landing in 1969, she said it was the moment she concluded, Americans can do anything.
The speech sought to elevate Australia/America relations to perhaps their closest level ever, and it was a move that clearly pleased its audience. But did she go too far?
Some Australians might not feel quite so dewy-eyed about America. Some will see her appropriation of her former political enemy, John Howard as disingenuous. Ditto with her glowing praise for the cold-war warrior and darling of the American Right, Ronald Reagan.
It was hard not to conclude Ms Gillard was engaging in a bit of over-compensation - that she was maybe too determined to assuage any fears she was “of” the left.
Critics will likely point to the lack of any serious reference to America’s divergent interests, its failure to show leadership on climate change, its bungled war efforts in Iraq (which Labor had opposed), its crippling addiction to debt, and its abject failure to properly regulate its finance sector which in turn laid the conditions for the GFC.
While none of these problems would or should have been raised in such a speech, it was that they did not even exist in the background that stood out. And most jarring of all was the sense pervading the speech that America and Americans somehow represent the best there is in humanity - the highest point. For an Australian prime minister, leaving such an impression would surely not be a winner at home.
The fulsome rhetorical flourish reached its crescendo as Ms Gillard’s voice began to waver at the end of the 30 minute address, causing some Congressional eyes to moisten as well.
This year you have marked the centenary of President Ronald Reagan’s birth. He remains a great symbol of American optimism. The only greater symbol of American optimism is America itself.
“The eyes of the world are still upon you. Your city on the hill cannot be hidden. Your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention.
“As I stand before you in this, this cradle of democracy, I see a nation that has changed the world and known remarkable days. I firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me when I was a small girl by landing on the moon.
“On that great day I believed Americans could do anything. I believe that still. You can do anything today.”
It is in the nature of such goodwill addresses to be generous. And while Ms Gillard may have taken the praise thing a few steps too far, she will get away with it. She has far bigger problems than being seen as too close to the Americans.
But for a politician already criticised for flip-flopping and for standing for nothing, her surprisingly enthusiastic embrace of the American ideal will do little to make her look more grounded. Besides, imagine the reaction if John Howard had said these things?
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