I spend a fair bit of my time reading political news. Lately this has been swamped with coverage of Gillard v. Rudd. This post at Grog’s Gamut points out a bunch of problems; most significantly that the media themselves worked to create the “issue”.

There’s another huge lack though; apart from the contest, and the potential ramifications on any upcoming election, why do I care if the ALP changes leader?

The prime minister has executive authority. I’ve not seen much substantive discussion on how Rudd would exercise that authority differently than Gillard.

The PM also sets the agenda. How would the agenda have changed under a Rudd prime ministership? I know some questions were asked about this at press conferences, and somewhat dodged, but I don’t feel Rudd was ever pressed on this point.

We’ve had a lot of horse-race coverage, but very little to justify our interest. Perhaps we’re not meant to notice, or most people aren’t interested – but the why do we care question has gone unanswered.

Disclosure: I’m a member of another political party (not the ALP) and I am speaking for myself.