More on Canadian Politics
Paul Wells, out of the country for most of the fun, has a
lovely summary:
From a springtime of committee chaos to a summer of ultimatums to a fall election, a December crisis, a tasty prorogue-y holiday feast, and the near certainty of another New Year psychodrama. I could swear there was a pattern in there. Blame the opposition if you like, but what olive branch did the PM hold out that they refused? Stephen Harper spent his whole adult life complaining that the state was no good for anything. Now, under him, it is so. Consistency at last.
Meanwhile two people who WERE in the country have assembled a
more detailed description of the last couple of weeks, well worth the reading.
Whatever the outcome, the parties and their leaders all look different now. Harper survived into 2009 only through improvisation, occasional demagoguery, and constitutional brinksmanship. His reputation for strategic savvy is permanently damaged, as might be his party’s prospects among Quebecers who don’t view the Bloc as fair game for demonization. He still has only a minority, and now faces opposition leaders who distrust and dislike him, and long to humble him, more than ever. His advantage in facing Dion, a lame duck, is suddenly lost. Ignatieff might be tougher.
Labels: Canada, politics, silly
Our RollerCoaster Ride
After the US Election SillyWife asked, "What can we watch on TV now?"
Canadian politics has supplied the answer. I was planning to blog at some length on this, but any effort on my part was made redundant by
this summary of the last week.
Still, the idea of a separatist party having power over decisions that affect the country from which they want to secede has not sat well with Canadians. Nor has the transparently partisan power-grab and disregard for the public's common sense. The coalition insisted that they had the best interests of Canada at heart, but most Canadians didn't buy it.
So on Dec. 4, when Harper asked Canada's governor-general, Michaëlle Jean, to prorogue parliament – also perfectly legal – until late January, what might have been disastrous, wasn't. Polls indicate Canadians see it as the lesser of two evils
In ensuing events, the Liberal party leader who negotiated the coalition is effectively gone, and the leadership candidate who continued to publicly support it after the prorogation of Parliament was hounded out of the race, and the party is crowning
Michael Ignatieff shortly as its new leader. All this in a mere week! Who said we aren't exciting!?
As for the next election, I somewhat agree with Rondi:
Canada will have two major parties led by wonks. I can't imagine a campaign with less charisma.
We may also have a first major party leader in the West who is a
signatory of the Euston Manifesto!
I have decided to stop predicting, after my earlier
expectation fond hope that Stephane Dion would do a halfway sensible job.
But I don't think the TV politics shows will be a total bore in the next many months.
Labels: Canada, Ignatieff, politics
The Conventions from Overseas
Besides the other things I
refer previously to missing because of this vacation, I have certainly been sorry to be confined to BBC/ITV/Sky coverage of the two conventions. I do very much look forward to the campaign when I get home, and am even more excited that there will be a Canadian campaign, it seems, during that time, which will of course be relatively colourless.
But the British coverage has been interesting. There was the knee-jerk BBC swoon after Obama's acceptance speech, though the parts I have seen did not strike me as some of his better speech-giving, but rather some of his toughest talk and major continuing migration to the centre. How must the reflex lefties who got him the nomination be feeling now?
What has amazed me here was the BBC's, and every network's, response to Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. This was certainly partly driven by the low expectations, but, and I have watched the speech on YouTube now (what a great tool!), by how marvelously she delivered it, especially when the teleprompter appeared to fail and she began to deviate a little from prepared text. It is very easy to see how she became governor and why she has high approval ratings. And her role as a self-appointed pit bull with lipstick should create a lot of entertainment in the weeks to come. My favourite British comment on Palin came from SkyNews yesterday morning : "We don't have any women like that here", with a response from another commentator that maybe far in the North (Scotland?) they might. (Of course they likely do have all sorts of such women, but I do not think they have come along so far as to allow them to express their skills in the same way. The UK has changed a lot, but not as much as it needs to.)
I do not get at all the many blog references I have seen describing her as shrill and negative. I thought all the criticisms of Obama were utterly fair, though I wish she would keep her index finger in the speech and stop waving it around and pointing it at me. Jackie Danicki has
a post that captures a good bit of my overall view, and Megan McArdle's
somewhat random reflections hit many points I agree utterly with. McCain knew he had to roll the dice, and did he ever!
I found the mixed reviews for McCain's acceptance speech odd - he is a terrible orator, of course, but he moved me terribly when he described the ultimate effect of his torture in the hands of the North Vietnamese. And I thought he reached out brilliantly to the centre as well.
Continuing disclosure : I would still vote Democrat had I a ballot, and again only because I cannot see how the Republicans can build a decent and competent team of advisers, especially on economic issues, and have full confidence that Obama will do that. And I am someone who has reached the stage of considering Obama a pompous windbag, who has a running mate who is even more so.
When you read this I will have moved on to Germany, and am even more curious about what they make of Sarah Palin.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain, Palin, politics, US English UK momentarily
The Olympic Ideal
I had no idea the Council on Foreign Relations did anything like
this - utterly excellent!
A long history of the intertwining of politics and the Olympics. This presentation documents nicely how some of the great 'traditions' have been added to the whole show. The torch run is described wonderfully as the "only Nazi symbol that survives proudly to this day".
h/t
Kate HeartfieldLabels: Olympics, politics
