The Yes side triumphed in 1997 referendums on devolution in Scotland and Wales, but those votes took place at a time of rising economic self-confidence, with a popular new prime minister, Tony Blair, backing their cause.
If the Mandarin-speaking Rudd's open attitudes to China (which, granted, come easier in a nation that sells so much to the Chinese) are instructive for America's protectionist social democrats, the new prime minister is in a position to serve not just his countrymen but globalization's cause.