Was Rudd the Saviour?

I'm not totally convinced Rudd saved labor if the white anting accusations are at all true. Did he in fact destroy labor that much that anybody but Gillard and associates leading the party to the election would actually be able to claw back the hardened labor voters who were disillusioned?  

It's probably fairly obvious but I'm sure many are glad to see the back of Rudd and his seeming pretention. He did oversee some excellent policy implementation, but we can't forget that he was the main voice for a collective decision and delegated response. If Rudd kept his mug off the TV screen more often than not and entrusted his ministers to undertake their roles without micro-managing, he possibly would have been the longest serving PM Australia ever had. He did have appeal, which he overused, and a great team to back him up.