Suffering from a surfeit of the young and amiable Trudeau? What to do? (Trudeau is like a virulent contagion strain - the Dynastic Dilettante personality cult complex - get rid of Harper but also SHAT`: Stop Harper And Trudeau...and Mulcair someone of authentic substance...) Of late, this writer feels as though he is suffering from a surfeit of his own, a surfeit of Justin. It may not be fatal, but it can cause significant digestive upset. Everywhere he goes, this reporter finds otherwise rational and reasonable people swooning over the Liberals young and amiable leader. Mulcair, like Harper, is an angry, old white man, says a successful white, male, 50-something business man. Trudeau is young and fresh. I like Trudeaus plan to decriminalize marijuana, says a woman of a similar age, who demurs when asked if she can name one other Trudeau policy. Undeterred, she insists her enchantment with Trudeau is not about policy. It is about the fact that she cannot abide Stephen Harper, and that Mulcair doesnt have a chance, whatever that means. That view seems to be, to this writers distress, widely shared. Weve got to get rid of that nasty Harper, a lot of folks say, and then add that Mulcair is no Jack Layton. The youthful and glamorous son of the now-sainted former Prime Minister is the only one who can slay the Harper monster for us, they argue with conviction and vigour, if not many facts. Even mildly criticizing the Liberal leader brings out his numerous ardent defenders. (for example: just try going on a FB page like CRUSH + saying anything constructively critical of their chosen on replacement for Harper - Trudeau) Ask whether the young Liberal leader has the judgment or experience needed of a Prime Minister and you get the answer: He has good advisers. And it is possible they may not all be named Butts. Last week, NDP leader Tom Mulcair came out with a major policy plank on daycare, which got some fairly intensive coverage in the first 24 hours. But, later in the week, did The Nationals At Issue panel focus on the Mulcair announcement? Nope. Instead of childcare, they discussed the Chatelaine piece on Trudeau at length, trying to decide whether or not it was demeaning to women. Democratic government, in which all can take part regardless of race, gender, property ownership or social status, is a very new idea in historic terms. Governments by oligarchs, aristocrats, elites and monarchs have been around for a lot longer, and we still seem to have a fascination with those whose chief quality is that they are to the manner born. Our love of inherited privilege and power makes us hanker, in the political domain, for dynasties, although in Canada those have happened more at the provincial than the federal level. As for Canada, there are many who, deep down, feel that Justin Trudeau somehow deserves to become Prime Minister simply by virtue of his blood. The MP for Papineau riding had barely taken his backbench seat in Parliament, and had virtually no record of public service or policy expertise. The younger Trudeau was well aware of that dynastic phenomenon long before he even sought to enter the House. NDP pushes policies over personality. All of this is, no doubt, highly frustrating for the NDP. For more than than three years the Official Opposition party has been skillfully and diligently taking on the Harper agenda day-in and day-out, in Parliament, in committees, and out in the country. The NDPers response to Trudeau-mania Mark II has been to emphasize real and serious policy, and let the contrast with the Liberals reliance on personality and nothing else speak for itself. And that strategy has won them plaudits from some unlikely sources -- from small-c conservative columnists Rex Murphy and Michael Den Tandt, for instance. They could come up with some serious proposals on sustainable development (especially in the light of current oil prices), for instance; or on higher education and encouraging the creative economy; or on a new deal for First Nations people; or on measures to encourage small business. There are lots of options. In the months to come, we can expect the Official Opposition party to emphasize its leaders grassroots origins. He comes from a working class family of 10 children and pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. They might also mention that Mulcair has his own claim to being connected to something resembling a political dynasty. His mothers great-grandfather was reforming 19th-century Quebec Premier, Honoré Mercier. In Quebec, Mercier is seen as a precursor both of the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, and of the Quebec nationalist movement (although the 19th-century premier would have been shocked that any Quebec leader might ever have the effrontery to suggest separation from Canada.) Mulcairs wife, Catherine Pinhas, might also be a political asset, despite the fact that the NDP leader seems much more anxious that his Liberal counterpart to guard his familys privacy. Pinhas is Jewish, descended from a Sephardic family that moved from Turkey to France, and then survived the Holocaust. She is a psychologist, and more important, a lively, candid and extroverted figure. Hers is a lineage that would attract some voters, and her personal qualities are useful in a political spouse -- except perhaps for the part about being candid. Finally, to balance his Quebec nationalist heritage, Mulcair and the NDP might want to let folks, especially in English Canada, know about his work during the 1980s as Director of Legal Affairs for Quebecs main Anglophone rights organization, Alliance Quebec. Most English Canadians outside of Quebec do not know that the current Official Opposition Leader has been a fierce, life-long opponent of the Quebec sovereignty project. English Canadians, in general (and that includes most non-Quebec journalists who cover national politics), are quite unaware of Mulcairs history of working in the trenches on behalf of minority rights in his own province. On the other hand...The Liberals have turned an inexperienced and untested near-rookie MP into the putative next Prime Minister, if you believe the media and the pollsters. If they could pull off that manoeuvre, anything is possible. rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-nerenberg/2014/10/suffering-surfeit-young-and-amiable-trudeau-what-to-do
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:34:07 +0000
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