The world order of Pariah Minister Stephen Harper has changed dramatically in the past few months. He has moved from being disingenuous, mean spirited and misleading to mendacious and capricious not only with the truth but with the good of the country.
His political talisman has been the Bush White House. He has not emulated "W" so much as he has Rumsfeld and Cheney and deployed the Rovarian Cancer of a constant political campaign at a time when we needed governing and leadership. Will he suffer the same lame duck fate as President Bush has seen in his a precipitous decline in popularity and suitability for office?
Harper is a quick study but a slow learner as shown by his character flaws and stubbornness in resisting adaptation and refusal to assume responsibility or culpability for his monumental errors in judgment.
Lawrence Martin's thoughtful and insightful study of Pariah Minister Harper refreshes our memories of how poorly he has been at governing. Canadians are tired of elections and tired of leadership campaigns and are unsettled to say the least about their futures.
We have elected 3 consecutive minority governments. While a coalition government is foreign to our traditions it is not out of the question. It may be a necessity if the Harper Party persists in pursuing personal power over providing us with some economic and social stability in this serious recession.
Harper has one last chance with his January 27th budget to smarten up and to show he can and will attend to governing the country. Otherwise I say dump the Harper Party and lets see what a coalition government can do instead of another election right away.
His political talisman has been the Bush White House. He has not emulated "W" so much as he has Rumsfeld and Cheney and deployed the Rovarian Cancer of a constant political campaign at a time when we needed governing and leadership. Will he suffer the same lame duck fate as President Bush has seen in his a precipitous decline in popularity and suitability for office?
Harper is a quick study but a slow learner as shown by his character flaws and stubbornness in resisting adaptation and refusal to assume responsibility or culpability for his monumental errors in judgment.
Lawrence Martin's thoughtful and insightful study of Pariah Minister Harper refreshes our memories of how poorly he has been at governing. Canadians are tired of elections and tired of leadership campaigns and are unsettled to say the least about their futures.
We have elected 3 consecutive minority governments. While a coalition government is foreign to our traditions it is not out of the question. It may be a necessity if the Harper Party persists in pursuing personal power over providing us with some economic and social stability in this serious recession.
Harper has one last chance with his January 27th budget to smarten up and to show he can and will attend to governing the country. Otherwise I say dump the Harper Party and lets see what a coalition government can do instead of another election right away.
I agree, one last chance for Harper to convince us he has a Vision and a plan for Canada. If not, let's try the the other side(s) for a while.
ReplyDeleteGood thinking Ken. A coalition Government. But how would that work without Dion around to be the useful idiot?
ReplyDeleteSee the problem with this coalition thing is that even Iggy the American who has arrived on our shores to grace us with his desire to be PM, isn't that stupid.
But what a laugh Layton and the Blochead must have had, not believing their good luck in watching their good works turn into the most precipitous drop in the polls the Libs have ever seen, after watching the biggest drop in seat counts the Libs have ever seen.
Harper will do just fine. The fallout from this recent coalition fiasco blows up in the Opposition parties futures, not the Conservatives. Harper is in fact a quick learner, an incrementalist and above all - A CONSERVATIVE. Which means that he is in synch with other Conservatives - thank god. Too hard to understand what the Libs or the coalition actually stands for, other than a self-destructive obsession with bashing whoever they aren't, and getting into power.
Seems there is justice after all for the folks who brought us HRDC, the Gun Registry, Shawinigate and Adscam - and tried to bring us NEP II. Let 'em rot in the political hinterland - the LIbs earned it.
Crackers; you off your meds? Harper is not a conservative, he's Reform and lets not trick ourselves into thinking that being scrubbed through the alliance washing machine that it made a difference. Heck without McKay's deire to have a place at the table and not growing a set, the reformers/alliance wouldn't have the conservative name.... This name makes them acceptable to the rest of the country. Too bad because Conserative, real Progressive Conservatives are intellegent, forthright, honest and retain substance and honestly that still matters.Is Harper a slow learner? Or is it us the great unwashed and unknowing not getting the wisdom that comes from our leader? Like many leaders, not all but some, it's the people they have around them. These are extraordinarily smart people but they are typically not very bright. They miss the most important issue of all, the electorate has to be able to beleive the story. Sitting around the caucus table and intellectually masterabing to the tune of "we will over come" hasn't been very productive.Remember the last time a government really messed up, oops, it was a "conseravtive" government and how many seat were left? Note that as you relish the demise of the Liberals, dismiss the Greens and bate the marginally left NDP they collectively or individually haven't been reduced to 2, that's two seats. To borrow from todays paper: Wasn't it Harper who talked to the Bloc with the intent to dump Martin. Now Harper, with a short memory, points out how that asking for Bloc support and cooperation is so very wrong. Hmmm, funny how we Albertans have forgotten this. In Quebec and Ontario they haven't.. After Harper espouses a fixed election date he calls one. Strange EH? Then during the election talks about cooperation and building a better working government. The electorate still knows he's speaks with forked tongue and still no mandate. Hmmmmm, how could he mess that up? Harper talks about the "golbal economic realities", then sends his less then impressive minister to tell us the same with no responsible plan and no action. Maybe the news of the thousands of lost jobs in Novemeber didn't reach Ottawa in time for the broadcast. Harper talks about democracy and then avoids the enevitable and prorogues Parliament. I guess courage is hard to come by from time to time. Then he does the one thing that tells us he has lost it. He has been so darn public saying that he wants Senate reform and then appoints 18 just because. Or did he see something in his tea leafs?Finally, the shallow and paranoid and frankly groundless fear of an NEP seems to have a life of its own and mostly made of myth and fabrication. Or under this are you suggesting to do the firewall thingy again? In 8 months Harper will be looking for meaningful work and I can guess he might like joining your cause. Keep smiling, 2009 promises to be a year to remember.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone really believe that Michael Ignatieff is foolish enough to bring down the Conservative government so that he can lead a coalition government? The man wants to be the elected Prime Minister some day.
ReplyDeleteLeading a coalition government would seriously jepoardize that ambition.
The polls are very clear that Canadians do not favor a coalition government but if need be would rather have another election. The PM and the GG understand that as well.
Mr Ignatieff has yet to show Canadians that he can lead. He needs to show patience and good judgement lest he be judged accordingly. So don't be to disappointed when he supports the Conservative budget next month.
At the very least it will give him the opportunity to live to fight another day.
Happy New Year Ken!
ReplyDeleteWhat has become clear through Harper's years as PM is that he is less interested in actually governing the country than in assuring that the Liberals never govern again. I think this orientation is partly born of a conservative ideological attachment to smaller goverment, and partly born through a prior life in politics strategizing with dissident groups (Reform, Canadian Citizens Coalition). What he has learned is how to attack. Like the dog chasing the car, however, he has not known what to do with power once he caught it. And, of course, it never occurred to him he might have to co-operate with other parties in the governance of the country, so he has not had any opportunity to develop the necessary mindset. Very sad.
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