A ringing endorsement, considering the source
The Globe and Mail is warming up:link-icon: to Stephen Harper. I mean, they actually think he is qualified for the job of Prime Minister!
Of course, it’s not all rosy:
Certainly, he has been far too much a solo runner in the team game of politics. He doesn’t trust easily and so isn’t trusted much. He is prone to savage attacks on his opponents and detractors, such as his gratuitous characterizations of parliamentary critics as Taliban sympathizers or artists as rich gala-goers. He also shows an underdeveloped appreciation for the basic tenets of pluralism with his denigrations of the keepers of critical checks and balances in our political system, from officers of Parliament to members of the press.
But despite these personality traits, Mr. Harper has governed moderately and competently for nearly three years. He has not taken the country in dangerous new directions or significantly eroded the capacity of the government to act, when necessary, in the public interest. He has been side-swiped, at least on the emotional level, by an international economic crisis of epic proportions. But he has gotten the big things right.
So it’s kind of a bad thing, I guess, that he prefers to keep things within his own party and stick to his own ideological standards. Is that what the first paragraph is saying? Also, is it really a stretch to call someone like Jack Layton a “Taliban sympathizer” when said someone has advocated in favour of negotiating with the Taliban?
The big thing, though, is that even a Left-leaning rag like the Globe thinks that Harper is a “competent” leader who has “gotten the big things right.” Compared to the usual level of drivel being directed at the Conservative government, though, the Globe’s acknowledgement that Harper is doing okay comes across as a ringing endorsement. Now, if they could just run an article about how much of a goof:link-icon: Stephane Dion really is, I might consider reading the rag again for more than just the movie reviews.
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