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Is Kevin Rudd the new Bob Hawke? Certainly, the stratospheric approval ratings invite comparisons, if not their wildly different personalities. The 'Silver Bodgie,' Australia's longest ever serving Labor Prime Minister, drank like a dehydrated fish, swore like a truckie, and claimed that he could bank his weekly salary because he enjoyed so much success at the races.

By contrast, Kevin Rudd admits to having been been drunk on only three occasions in his life, and when he swears in public.

Hawke was messy, sweeping, chaotic and charismatic - an Australian Bill Clinton, if you like. Kevin Rudd is detailed, precise and devoid of much passion. Bob Hawke spoke fluent Aussie. Kevin Rudd expresses himself in bullet points, acronyms and, on occasions, impressive Mandarin.

But if the polls are to be believed, they can lay claim to being Australia's most popular prime ministers in polling history. At his height, Hawke could boast a Bradmanesque approval rating of 75%. Rudd has just scored a 74% rating, with voters by his handling of the economic slowdown and the Victorian wildfires.

For all their differences, I suspect that one key similarity might explain their shared popularity. Hawke was politically cautious, governed from the centre and did not get too far in front of Australian public opinion. The same is true of Rudd.

Consider this quote, for example. 'I don't think in Australia we are going to be able to dramatically change things. We are a very conservative country. And you have to move within the constraints of what the nation's economic performance will allow.' Were these words uttered by Rudd or by Hawke? Actually, it was Bob Hawke speaking before he became prime minister, when he was determined to avoid what he considered the reformist over-reach of the Whitlam years.

So aside from a major restructuring and opening up of the Australian economy, the Hawke government did not pursue an ambitious reform agenda on education, health, indigenous affairs or the Republic. 'Hawke is not out to change Australia,' wrote the journalist Craig McGregor at the time, 'he simply wants it to work more efficiently.' Again, could not the same be said of Kevin Rudd?

I like this quote from McGregor: 'No country in the world but Australia could produce a leader like Bob Hawke. In a way he sums up the best, and the worst, of us.' Again, this is where Hawke and Rudd diverge.

But although they were very different Australians, they essentially had same sense of their fellow Australians and the constraints that public opinion imposed upon their terms in office. Therein lies the root of their political success.

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