This woman leader of ours is as tough as a stevedore. Necessarily, if a woman wants to win a shit-fight, which is what she did on Monday after a 20 month long challenge to her claim to be legitimately PM.
Gillard's right to political life has been challenged from within the ALP, because she got her first leg over the stile thanks to the ALP's affirmative action policies and the vigorous growth of the non-Party but pro-progressive political women's support organisation, EMILY's List [Early Money Is Like Yeast].
The depth of factional resentment is still profound. Even Gough vigorously and volubly (naturally) resented these vile, undemocratic initiatives, which I know, because he told me so when I was trying to get him to contribute to the Joan Kirner biography (a project I've had to shelve for now).
I was a bit shaken to hear my hero trot out the old canard that removing obstacles to would-be women parliamentary candidates results in unmeritorious appointments. Of course all those men of substance and authority like Kim Carr and George Seitz and union chappies are self-evidently brilliant men of the people.
I digress, but not far.
For these 20 months we have been bombarded by a concerted, personal and sexist campaign — yes, Bob Brown was right — based on the delegitimation of a perfectly normal politician who — unlike most of the incumbents — always sits down when she visits the loo.
She's made mistakes. She's no orator. She hasn't been any different, really, from a bloke in her position; except that she is the one that women wanted to be a woman in power, and that girls love to look up to because she can show that any girl can aspire to being as powerful as a bloke, and can achieve it, using exactly the same tactics as blokes in the ALP do.
Sure, she benefited with a hand over the stile onto the 'level playing field' of merit selection, but she fought as dirty as you have to, to stay on it, get in, and be where she is today.
Thanks to Kevin Rudd's challenge, sadly misbased on his personal assessment of his own radiance as a media performer, the story behind the deputy toppling the winner of the Kevin 07 election has shown just how flawed and preoccupied and vainglorious any keeper of top office can be.
This rough, tough former workplace lawyer came, as we knew she does,