Dear Michael,
Michael Ignatieff
Being a politician has to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. (Although I suspect that being a senior executive with BP would run a close second)
First of all it’s a bit like living in a glass house. All those people out there can see every little thing you do. But when you squint and try to have a gander at them, the glare from the glass hides everything except the nasty sounds they make. That would include all the opinion writers (me as well), journalists and critics, most of whom know nothing anyway – a fact that becomes all the more apparent with practically every word we/they write or speak.
Then of course there’s the problem of trying to please all those special interests, the powerful lobbies, the rapidly growing senior citizen sector and the great mass of young people whose attention span gets shorter by the nano-second.
On top of all that, there are the mistakes you’ve made in the past and the challenge of how to deal with them. Mind you, we’ve all made mistakes, but when a politician makes one – even a small one – it goes in the file and sits there forever, or until one of those nasty reporters pulls it out to add a little spice to the Saturday feature article on Michael I.
Now obviously your chief rival is Stephen Harper and in politics as in war, rule number one is “know thine enemy”. In Mr. Harper’s case, the picture is pretty clear. He’s a ruthless person, who will say and indeed do whatever it takes to win. On the surface, people have a grudging respect for that quality…but deep down, it makes them uneasy. My advice is to ignore Mr. Harper completely. Don’t even acknowledge that the man exists. He is after all, an opportunist and the public know that.
So my top ten list of rules would be -
#10. Ignore Stephen Harper.
#9. Be yourself. You can be witty if you like, but don’t try to be a smart-ass. It won’t work.
#8. Acknowledge past mistakes…the big one being your willingness to support Bush in Iraq.
#7. Ask questions. Ask the people you meet about their thoughts, their opinions, their desires.
#6. Don’t hang out in the bar having a beer with people. Way too obvious.
#5. Make sure you have a policy that is strongly supportive of senior citizens.
#4. Be even-handed on the Middle East. Bring Jews, Muslims and Christians together. (See if you can meet Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish – he’s a Palestinian Doctor. You’ll like him).
#3. Be pro-peace…and stay away from Bob Rae.
#2. Be stronger on healthcare, public safety, international cooperation, responsible development, the environment and all those good things.
#1. Make education, childcare, opportunity for youth your top priority. They are the future.
What you are doing on this current journey is good.
Hi Jim:
A great top 10 but I think the issue about Global Warming and fossil fuels needs more emphasis.
The BP spill in the Gulf is giving politicians a great opportunity to talk about the problem of fossil fuels. First, we are running out of them and that’s why BP and others have to drill deeper and deeper in more and more hostile places to find oil. And second, it contributes to Global Warming which could lead to the extinction of the human race.
It seems overwhelmingly obvious that we need to develop a non-food biofuel. This is way more important than anything else. More important than the losers protesting at the G20 conference who didn’t get enough water in the incarceration center for 18 hours. More important than how Canada should get a better soccer team to compete for the FIFA cup. Yet you do not hear or read about bio fuel in the media or from the politicians.
If we don’t come up with a nonfood biofuel in the next 10 years our economy will grind to a halt because the price of fossil fuels will be prohibitive. Its really, really important.
But it is beyond the 12-24 month horizon of our politicians, media and business leaders.
This is too bad.
Thanks Mike…hard to cover everything in 10 points…but i do have to admit that he is looking not too bad at all on this journey.
If he can sustain the momentum and build on it…I think we may be able to put paid to harper.
I am still flummoxed by the passage of that f’ing omnibus bill tho.
” The House” on CBC just interviewed Donald Savoie about his new book ” Power Where is it ” I hope the Liberal Party will consider it .
Parties must build support and power at the local riding areas .
I believe Harper has built through the PMO / Ottawa bunker a fantastic communication machine . Now his disciple Kory under the guise of Fox North channel is actually putting Government propaganda at the local level .
This in my opinion has made him the teflon don of politics .
i.e. Jet deal could see Grits crash and burn
Posted By ? Posted 5 hours ago (Barrie Examiner)
” The House” on CBC just interviewed Donald Savoie about his new book ” Power Where is it ” I hope the Liberal Party will consider it .
Parties must build support and power at the local riding levels . ( and I think diseminate their understanding of the facts on issues. )
I believe Harper has built through the PMO / Ottawa bunker a fantastic communication machine .
He maybe coined ” the teflon P.M. ”
i.e. ” Jet deal could see Grits crash and burn
Posted By ?” (Barrie Examiner)
” MP candidates derailing Liberal Express bus tour By QMI Agency BARRIE, Ont. – Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s cross-Canada tour hit some more speed bumps ”
Alf Apps has a counter plan for this awesome propoganda machine besides a many paged trend line ?