He flies through the air with the greatest of ease,
the daring young man on the flying trapeze.
We’ve been watching over the past two weeks, willingly or not, the wrong icon. Michael Jackson’s a distraction. Barack Obama is the superstar of the world, the real celebrity. And because he’s President of the world’s foremost power (for now), his actions have real, not just symbolic, meaning.
We’ve seen him in action for a bit more than six months. What we can say with confidence, now that we have the evidence of his actions, is that had he run on (a) transforming the U.S. economy by massive federal government intervention, (b) taking an owner’s stake in the automobile industry, (c) transforming the rules of America’s energy economy, (d) instituting a national health-care system – all of these simultaneously and in the centre of a financial meltdown – Barack Obama wouldn’t merely have lost the election, he wouldn’t have got as many votes as gnarly old Ross Perot did in an election long past. He wouldn’t, in other words, have beaten a bad-tempered, egotistical spoiler.
We have also seen enough to make some observations on the observations of his once and now-no-more mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You will remember when the ravings of Mr. Wright finally got too much for the candidate, when the more pacific words of the “great speech” on race that he could “no more disown him than I can my white grandmother” were rendered inoperative by Mr. Wright’s persistently obnoxious presence. Mr. Obama pushed him aside.
The pastor had one last shot of his own about his onetime “son.” That was the line, “He’s a politician; I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.” We know what he meant by “politician”: one who is “forced” to say one thing to get elected, and do another; a person who conceals an agenda under cloudy rhetoric, a person whose calling – politics – is implicitly, essentially, deceptive.
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Excellent column, but why is Rex et. al. so late in identifying the problem? Obama gave every indication during his run for the presidency what a disaster he would be. Where was the media — in the US and abroad — at that time? Rather than crowing about the first black candidate and the first black president, they should have been looking at what he had said in the past and was saying during his campaigns. I suppose for some people, race is something they just cannot see beyond!!!
Its amazing howsome from the Canadian right has so many negative comments about Obama. One would think he was running for office up here and according to recent polls, would probably be successful.
Yeah, negative comments just relaying the truth about his past and the stuff he is doing. Unlike the hero worship our own media seems to give him. Yeah, Brian Williams bowed to him; Peter Mansbridge would likely genuflect and kiss his hand!
UV: I think you are projecting the actions of the Canadian left for the last 8 years onto others.
The O just gave a speech in Africa where he said, rather strongly, that it is time for Africa to get over there anger at what was done by those that used to rule them. Gee, why doesn’t he send that message to his people in the USA, or to First Nations. He told them to get over it and move on. He also hit on the corruption of most of the govts in Africa, and said busiesses will not come if they know the first 20% is skimmed of by officials.
Let’s hope those involved in the hearings for the new SCJ willl pay attention to what she had said in the past, and how many of her decisions have been overturned by other SC judges.
The rather obvious difference is that Africans have been in control of their own economies for 40 years, where most remaining corruption is carried out with some degree of government complicity. Ghana was chosen for a visit because it has minimized that corruption and their economy is relatively stable.
The Canadian right’s fascination with american politics (Obama) instead of Canadian politics is only exceeded by all the publicity that the deceased Michael Jackson is getting on both sides of the border.
Geez, some people need to get a life.
Obama’s importance in Canadian politics is based largely on the fact that he’s engaging in a kind of experiment of governmental expansion never before seen in the United States, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Second, because Canada is modeling their programs after what the Americans do, it’s very important to pay attention. We’re getting a carbon tax now, without the Liberals or Dion, because Canada will have to match the environmental restrictions imposed by the Obama administration that is tantamount to a declaration of war on NAFTA.
The auto bailout is a similar issue. It’s as if our government waits and responds to the moves of the Obama administration, because their economy influences and is heavily integrated with ours.
My view is that if NAFTA doesn’t work anymore for Canada it should be dispensed with. Times change.
Raph: Weve already seen this grand social experiment. Obama is running plays from the post 68 Trudeau playbook.
See, this is why I don’t think campaigns are the proper time to discuss policy. Get elected first, and then implement your agenda. Hey, it worked for the Liberals and Democrats.
And the Conservatives. We just have to get rid of the language law, fire Quebec, ostracize Toronto and we have this situation beat. Now how hard is that?
About as hard as it is to remain a minority government forever. The real essence of picking a political scapegoat is selecting one that isn’t so numerous you can no longer win elections. Sounds like Harper needs his own Lee Atwater.
Actually, we need to defuse a situation wherein we have a pizza parliament which is the case now. Give Harper a majority and the problem will end. Fail to do so and we can watch this bickering go on for years.
That’s certainly not going to happen by electing a party based on demonizing two populous, economically/culturally important parts of the nation.
And exactly who would that be, Cynapse?
Obviously Quebec and Toronto. Without Quebec, Canadian culture can be explained almost entirely in terms of British envy and Bob & Doug McKenzie. Quebec has produced far more than its fair share of playwrights, authors, painters, etc. Ever walked downtown Montreal in summer? Compare how they are dressed in comparison to Nowheresville, Ontario and tell me Quebec doesn’t have a stranglehold on culture.
Toronto’s main contribution is still economic – this is where the specialists live and names are made. Toronto is a competitive city where experts from all over the world vie for very few positions. I’ve learned more in 5 years here than I learned in 20 years of schooling or could learn in 50 years in some rural backwater (where I have worked as well).
Perhaps older people who have their fortunes made and guaranteed via Trudeau’s just society don’t care so much (talk about biting the hand that feeds). Trudeau is no longer relevant because the state is broke and the buddy system is also no longer relevant now that manufacturing/farming are in steep decline. You need to swim with the sharks, and Toronto is one of the few places in Canada where one can get world-class skills.
Oh dear…now you’ve gone and done it, Cynapse. I think I’ll shut my computer down and go to bed. I don’t want to watch this.
Bed at 7:18pm?
Fair play for your incessant Toronto Bashing
But seriously, the days where one can expect cradle-to-gave in the same town with an expected job, marrying the local cheerleader etc etc are gone. Almost every Canadian +3rd-gen I work with in Toronto is not from Toronto and came here because they saw the economic writing on the wall.
“Bed at 7:18pm?”
I get up very early. It’s a habit older people get into.
I usually wake up about 4:00 am and start my day with a coffee. I haven’t been able to sleep past that point for years now.
Re #20: Truly. I started bashing Toronto in basic training back in ’63′. I’ve never let up because those hogtown lads I was working with left a lot to be desired.
In all the years since I’ve never changed my view.
“Bite me.”
Meh, some country/city boy chatter.
The Canadian right should be more concerned about what the looney left would do should they get back into power instead of attacking the American left. Conservatives up here should be focussing their efforts on the Canadian lieberals by remembering that we are still in a minority situation even though Iggy hasnt announced any of his policies outside of ‘we’re not the conservatives. ’