Topic
CONTEST: Share your local faves, win $2,500 in prizes! What!?
Or, why we like politicians more the farther they are from power.
Be honest. Do you feel a strange twinge of fond nostalgia for one of these guys that takes you by surprise? Wonder why?
Beards once conveyed wisdom, then became dirty. Will a western male leader ever sport one again?
Just when you thought it was safe, here comes his kid.
For an expat Canadian, it all comes rushing back.
Find more politics reporting on The Tyee.
Kai: I got the news over Twitter a few weeks ago that Justin Trudeau had TKO'd Patrick Brazeau in their charity boxing match in Ottawa. A strange sensation welled up in my shrivelled heart, singed by service as a legislative reporter. It felt like affection, but for a politician?
Getting home, I fired up the Sun News site (best 16 minutes of Sun programming ever, I will happily admit) and watched Trudeau pound the cocky Conservative senator into bloody submission. Yes, it was affection. Affection for the silver-spoon son of a prime minister who alienated Western Canada and sent tanks into the streets of Montreal. Affection for a guy who earns more than $150K a year for wearing a suit and mouthing empty platitudes.
So Crawford, what's the deal? Am I crazy?
Crawford: No, but we need a 12-step program for your condition... which I share.
Kai: You too? I don't know, it seems like a pretty harmless affliction. I mean, how much farther could Trudeau be from power? The Liberal party looks like it's caught in the Death Star's trash compactor. Luke, I mean Justin, has ruled out even running for the party leadership. As Michael Den Tandt astutely pointed out heading into that boxing match, Trudeau really had nothing to lose.
Contrast that with Stephen Harper. Doesn't make eye contact. Shakes hands with his own kids. Pauses his speech if the teleprompter stops working. Makes a 10-year-old sing his favourite song first -- not hers -- for a campaign photo-op. The last time he might have pulled off "harmless nerd" was during his Reform Party days.
Crawford: And he single-handedly refutes Henry Kissinger's adage that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Kai: Yikes. We should make clear this is not about a left-right spectrum. What I'm describing really does seem to correlate with one's proximity to power. Look at prime ministerial hopeful Michael Ignatieff. As the federal election loomed last spring he popped up in Quebec City, promising a new hockey arena like it was a pet pony, all in that condescending Parisian accent. When he stopped to take questions, we in the press gallery utterly savaged him. There was something primal about our reaction to his pork-scented tournée.
A month later, it was clear he had no hope. He spent the last days of the campaign capering around farmers' markets in red Chuck Taylors, yelling "Rise up! Rise up!" like a guy you'd meet on the night bus. And I liked him for it.
Crawford: I saw him in that mode too. It worked better on TV. In person, he looked like an academic trying to impress his students. As an ex-academic, I sympathized, and sympathy is the first step toward the condition we call demagogalgia: The irrational fondness for a politician who is no longer either useful or threatening.
Kai: So it has a name. But I wonder now, does it work in reverse? Take newly anointed NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. With a legendary temper and what the Conservatives are framing as an opportunistic streak, I'd imagine Mulcair would want to become more likeable the more serious he is about taking power. He would need to defy the trend, like his predecessor. Jack Layton's cheerfulness could feel a bit forced, but his party's rising fortunes never made him act pompous or nasty.
So is Mulcair doomed to become, as Bob Rae taunted him, "mini-Harper"? Increasingly ruthless the closer he gets to power, like a shark following a blood trail? Or will he reinvent himself as the "happy warrior," like Jack Layton brandishing his cane -- or Justin Trudeau, grinning as he gave Patrick Brazeau the Hemingway treatment?
Crawford: There's a difference between disliking a politician because of his personality and disliking a politician because of his policy. Plenty of Canadians hated and feared Jack Layton no matter how much charm he turned on, because he was a left-winger -- and popular as well. Now that he's no longer a threat to them, they can sentimentalize about him.
Kai: Except for Christie Blatchford. But go on.
Crawford: It's extraordinary how widespread demagogalgia has become. People are actually fond of Diefenbaker. Mike Pearson suffered endless slings and arrows in his minority governments, but now he's our patron saint. That dropped football cost Bob Stanfield a victory, but now he's the best prime minister we never had. Joe Clark seemed like a pompous nebbish in power, but when I met him in a supermarket in Wakefield a couple of years ago he was a charming and affable man. I suffered serious dental damage from grinding my teeth during the Mulroney years, but now I cheer up when I hear his voice.
Kai: You're right, even his descriptions of cash-stuffed envelopes are delivered in that soothing, statesmanlike baritone. I get goosebumps.
Crawford: If he'd worked for the CBC, he'd be up there with Gzowski.
This is not, by the way, just a Canadian malaise. Think about the U.S. Republican far-right lunatics who now invoke the happy memory of JFK and even FDR. Democrats are fond of Barry Goldwater and the late William F. Buckley, who in hindsight were both too far left for today's GOP. Churchill spent most of his political career being despised by everyone as a drunken warmonger, but now he's the saviour of the western democracies. And a lot of Russians still love Uncle Joe Stalin.
Kai: So do we have nothing to fear but the fear of demagogalgia itself? Or should you and I seek treatment?
Crawford: Early-onset demagogalgia is dangerous -- that's when you start to tolerate a still-dangerous politician just because he or she has been around a long time. Preston Manning is a case in point.
And even when we admire the has-beens like Mulroney, and the no-hopers like Justin Trudeau and Elizabeth May, we need the 12-step program. Without it, we forget that the leader isn't the real problem -- it's the leader's policies and the people who like those policies. If we insist on personifying the real threats to our way of life and our institutions, our enemies just need to rebrand.
Bill Bennett resigned in 1986 and bought the B.C. Socreds five more years (and while no one misses him, we love his successor Bill Vander Zalm). Gordon Campbell tried the same tactic when he quit in 2011. Whether Christy Clark out of power will ever become the object of our affections remains to be seen. But even I, a terminal demagogalgic, don't think so.
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judycross
1 year ago
Time has not diminished my loathing
for Lyin' Brian.He was and still is a Quisling.
miguel
1 year ago
OR, why we like...
I demand that you exclude me from that 'we'!
MEW
1 year ago
Puff piece
best suited for one of Toronto's "national" newspapers not the Tyee.
Jeffrey J.
1 year ago
Clever Summary of Canadian Politicians
While light hearted, this was also very clever. And highlights the past 40 years of Canada's leaders. How things have changed!
In the end, we have now learned the sad truth. Individual leadership and charisma within the ruling financial elite will have NO impact whatsoever on corporate policies.
It is the structure of our system that has captured and is controlling us. The structure is beyond the control or impact of any one person.
This is a major problem. Perhaps the single largest problem ever to face human society.
Great coverage as always!
Frank
1 year ago
Its true
The authors provide lots of examples of people sentimentalizing over leaders they opposed vehemently.
I would add though that its often invoked for partisan reasons in the heat of an argument. As in "even Mulroney wasn't anywhere as right-wing as Harper...", or "Layton wasn't as left-wing as Mulcair..." etc.
Fiat lux
1 year ago
What I've been trying to find
What I've been trying to find out for over 50 years, where these silly "wings" come into politics ?
Politics are on the vertical, not horizontal spectrum and once people realize this simple fact, they may just stop electing outright crooks and nuts into office.
When will people come to grips with the fact that the practitioners of both communism and capitalism are the same collectivizing, larcenous jerks?
The main problem is that so called "normal" people very seldom, if ever, go into politics and never elected to top positions.
Of the PMs I've known in Canada:
Louis St.Laurent, a decent guy
Diefenbaker, a bad joke.
Pearson, probably the best of them all
Trudeau, brilliant, made some mistakes, but by and large has made good decisions, too long in power.
Joe Clark, a poor carbon copy of Dief.
Mulroney, a predator filling his pockets.
Chretien a low brow nobody.
Harper a proven, visible psycho maniac.
Misled for the past 40 years into growing disasters by the priesthood of neoclassical economists, feeding them fraudulent information, ruining the country and enslaving the people, now with the "free trade" crime wave.
Albeit not much different anywhere else, as we watch the USA self destruct, with us tied to their apron strings, and the Chinese commies laughing and waiting to take us over.
Ed Deak.
Skywalker
1 year ago
Excellent Ed!
Your comments are dead on.
Name goes here
1 year ago
Our Canadian examples
Our Canadian examples seem like lightweights compared with the international demagogues Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher. I have no idea why someone who legally sold arms to Iraq and at the same time illegally sold arms to Iran while they were at war and funneled profits off to guerrillas in Central American could be treated as a saint.
alive
1 year ago
funny ha ha
OK a good read but it makes one sad to realize that voters are so hung up on personalities!
I would prefer a system where people voted for principles and the winning party then installed suitable people to fill the seats in parliament!
Preferably only known by numbers if referred to at all!
It is regretable that we still elect our representatives based on their TV / acting talents.
Fiat lux
1 year ago
Name...Isn't an interesting
Name...Isn't an interesting coincidence that they all called themselves "conservatives".
As we are now so lucky to have the "Prestigious Conservative Economic Think Tank, the Fraser Institute" giving our governments "wealth creating economic advice" and the GDP to reassure the foodbank lines that everything is A-OK.
Ed Deak.
Luck
1 year ago
WHY YOU SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS OF POLITICIANS...........
WHY YOU SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS OF POLITICIANS.....
GREAT ARRAY OF COMMENTS ARE A COLLECTION OF HOW MOST CANADIANS EXPRESS THE DEFINITION OF A POLITICIAN
POLITICIANS ACT LIKE THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW, SIMILAR TO COLLEGE KIDS CELEBRATING SPRING BREAK ON FLORIDA BEACHES.
ONLY DIFFERENCE IS, THE KIDS ARE BUSTED AND POLITICIANS ARE NOT.
WE ARE JUST WAITING TO SEE IF CONRAD BLACK RUNS FOR A CONSERVATIVE SEAT NEXT ELECTION AS HE AND HIS FAMILY OWES THE BLUE CONS SO MUCH.
GUESS IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THIS SCENERY THEN YOU HAVE TO GET OUT AND VOTE
WE KNOW THIS IS A PAINFUL TOPIC FOR SOME
IF THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR OFFICE MAKE YOU SQUIRM,
THEN MAYBE
IT IS TIME YOU PUT YOUR NAME DOWN TO STAND BECAUSE YOU POSSIBLY ARE THE BETTER CANDIDATE
IF NOT YOU AND ME THEN WHO
John Corman
1 year ago
From the other side
It's remarkable that intelligent people such as Prof. Kilian and Kai Nagata don't appreciate how localized this odd phenomenon is.
Virtually everyone posting here has very violent opinions of politicians, or anyone for that matter, that doesn't follow the socialist agenda. You don't have to go very far into the archives to read suggestions of physical harm to non-socialist politicians.
As an example, Murray Dobbin hates Mulcair for not advocating the destruction of the Israel state and numerous other perceived indescretions in policies.
Personally, I look at those pictures of politicians above and have not one degree of a difference of opinion of them than when they were significant.
It is Prof. Kilian and Kai Nagata who mistakenly assume that they're own disproportionate emotions towards politicians not of their liking is common through out the political spectrum. It's not.
Most adults don't see everyone of unlike minds as a monster.
An amazing article.
John MacLachlan Gray
1 year ago
Ed, I'm afraid your
Ed, I'm afraid your characterization of these prime ministers is almost entirely media-based. You never met these men & are relying on imagery provided to you for someone's political gain. Joe Clark is a brilliant man, and was one of the best External Affairs ministers we ever had. Mulroney showed considerable insight in appointing him, and grace as well - it's hard not to resent someone you stabbed in the back. These are complicated men in a complicated situation, not to be reduced to one-sentence descriptors. You may be right about, Harper the psychopath, he has most of the markers on the PCL_Revised.
Fiat lux
1 year ago
John....When several people,
John....When several people, including Joe Clark, were running for the leadership of the PC Party in 1983, Peter Pocklington suggested "free trade" with the USA.
All the other candidates were horrified and were quoted in the June 13, 1983 issue of Macleans.
Joe Clark: "Unrestrained free trade with the US raises the possibility that thousands of jobs could be lost in such critical industries as textiles, furniture and footwear. Before we jump on the bandwagon of continentalism, we should strengthen our industrial structure so that we can be more competitive.
Mulroney: Canadians rejected free trade with the US in 1911. They would do so again in 1983. Canada must increase its share of total world trade. which has dropped by 33% in the last two decades.
2 days after his election Mulroney was in Reagan's office begging for the FTA, the start of the deindustrialization and the sale of Canada for chickenfeed.
In other words they were all bloody liars then and since, and I have no patience with either. Having lived under every known political theory and seen the destruction caused by them, I don't trust any politician.
The one thing I can say in Clark's favour is that he didn't jump on the Harper bandwagon
Ed Deak.
sunwukong
1 year ago
Ed, Funniest thing about your list ...
... is that you completely forgot Paul Martin!
If that doesn't say it all!
p.s. he's also the only PM I've met while in "power".
Fiat lux
1 year ago
Sun....It is better to forget
Sun....It is better to forget Paul Martin and his ship owner family.
But we should definitely remember that when the NDP tabled a Tobin Tax Bill, Martin and the whole House enthusiastically endorsed and passed it but it was never implemented either by Martin or any other of the other screwballers following him in finance, and as PM.
The present bunch looks like escapees from some institution , an agony to see them in the news.
Of course there was also John Turner, who at least strongly opposed the "free trade" racket and Kim Campbell who never got out of bed, involved in more interesting activities, than campaigning during the elections.
I've lived under the governments of Hitler, Stalin and Churchill, and our bunch are minor players compared to them.
"Winnie was asleep again in the House, during question period....."
Ed Deak.
Frank
1 year ago
John Corman
Try not to think about polls showing the NDP has more support federally than the Conservatives.
2015 could be a great year for the Left in Canada, assuming Harper doesn't declare martial law.
Fiat lux
1 year ago
Frank....Harper may not
Frank....Harper may not realize it himself with his warped mind, but he's only a contract employee of the international corporate mafia.
When he was elected with a "majority" of 39%, I gave him 2 years before he becomes so unpopular that he's forced out of office by his own bosses.
The growing antagonism caused by the clumsy and disgusting moral corruption of his government hinders their plans of a total takeover of Canada's resources and they'll get rid of him.
Ed Deak.
John Corman
1 year ago
Thanks Ed
You couldn't have made my point any better.
Fiat lux
1 year ago
Thanks John, I didn't realize
Thanks John, I didn't realize that you've made a point, but am glad that I've made you happy.
Ed Deak.
John Corman
1 year ago
Ed
You haven't the slightest idea of what I'm talking about, do you?
Fiat lux
1 year ago
John, I would appreciate if
John, I would appreciate if you'd explain it, while remembering that I grew up and was educated as an arch conservative fascist, so I could write every word any "conservative" writes here.
I left out the word "fascist" out of politeness.
This is how I can predict everything Harper does and what his employers are going to do to him. Albeit, this time leaving the offensive word in.
Cheers, Ed.
Polonius
1 year ago
Stanfield and the football
Apparently he caught it over and over because he was actually quite an athlete, till he missed once and that was the picture that made the front pages. It should make us all doubt about how much we really know about people in public life.