To revisit yesterday's Pierre Trudeau post, I should say that I don't actually think an Obama/Trudeau analogy sheds any light on anything in particular. Canadian politics is very different from U.S. politics. The Canadian language issue and the American racial issue are both important and longstanding sources of division, but they're not actually similar in any of their particulars. So you can make an analogy, but it's necessarily going to be very superficial and not really enhance anyone's understanding of anything.
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Trudeaumania
28 Feb 2008 01:15 pm
Comments (9)
Better to say that Barack is the Sir Wilfred Laurier of the US.
At least he's not the Mackenzie King, who made decisions after consulting with his dead mother.
The Obama-Trudeau similarity is that both men were/are at the center of a mania based upon a craving for newness that isn't programmatic, but rather attitudinal and largely aesthetic. Trudeau was Lester Pearson with magic fairy dust all over him, and that's basically the deal with Obama vs. John Kerry or plenty of others. There is also the crossover aspect: Trudeau was the a Francophone who didn't alienate Anglophones, while Obama is an African-American who doesn't alienate whites...and in both cases it's largely because they don't come from the mainstream of their respective identities.
Comparisons between Canadian and American politicians are always tempting, sometimes illuminating, but often off the mark. What make them difficult, as Matthew points out, are the different political contexts in which they operate. These different contexts will always shape, to some degree or another, a politician’s beliefs and actions.
Obviously, as with “Trudeau-mania,” there is now a phenomenon of “Obama-mania.” Nonetheless, setting aside the different political contexts in which they operate, Obama and Trudeau are not really all that similar, and the “mania” surrounding the two is very different. Obama strikes me as a quite ordinary politician who can deliver a very good speech, and the phenomenon of “Obama-mania” I find quite puzzling.
Incidentally, when "Trudeau-mania" was in full flight, Trudeau remarked that it will quickly turn to "Trudeau-phobia" and that it was neither politically sustainable nor sufficient to be politically successful in the long-term. I wonder if Barack Obama has the same wisdom. Trudeau managed to serve as Prime Minister for close to 16 years because he was a phenomenally capable person, with an incredible work ethic, and a unique vision for Canada that captured people’s imagination. Unlike Obama, he didn’t achieve success by having a vision remarkably similar to that of his chief rival but by expressing it in more eloquent speeches.
Incidentally, when "Trudeau-mania" was in full flight, Trudeau remarked that it will quickly turn to "Trudeau-phobia" and that it was neither politically sustainable nor sufficient to be politically successful in the long-term. I wonder if Barack Obama has the same wisdom.
Clearly he does. I don't have the link handy, but the effort they put into lowering Obama's profile in the US Senate after his star turn at the 04 convention would indicate they know just how fickle perception can be.
I swear, half of Matt's readers (including me) are Canadians, ex-pats or otherwise.
What Obama manifestly lacks that Trudeau had is the aristocratic arrogance. Also, the Quebecois are miles ahead of the rest of Canada in political sophistication...I don't see that Illinois provides that kind of advantage.
Mais, au contraire, nous sommes super-sophistiqué aux Illinois!
I don't see how lowering Obama's profile in the US Senate indicates a clear recognition, on Obama's part, of how fickle perception can be. His campaign, in which he has painted himself as a transformational leader, as the agent of change who will bring new hope and new politics to the United States, has largely contributed to the phenomenon of Obama-mania. Contrast Obama's approach to Hillary Clinton's, in which she often says that she wants to help people and how she plans to do it. It's not mania making stuff, but it is stuff I have a lot more confidence in.
As for Trudeau's arrogance, he certainly did display an abundance of it in public, but from reading numerous accounts of his private interactions with people, arrogance hardly describes his conduct. Trudeau was a complicated individual, and in many ways his public arrogance was actually a mask for his shyness and his desire to guard himself from the public. It has nothing to do with his so-called aristocracy.
Lastly, Quebec certainly does have a unique place within Canadian politics that Illinois cannot match. And being from Illinois while also being able to speak French really doesn't change that.
Obama:
“Very early in this campaign, I said I would meet not just with our friends but also with our enemies, not just with leaders we like but leaders we don't,” Obama said. “Washington, when I said this, they said, 'Oh, you can't do that.' I said, 'Watch me; I will.'”
That made me smile
Contrast Obama's approach to Hillary Clinton's, in which she often says that she wants to help people and how she plans to do it. It's not mania making stuff, but it is stuff I have a lot more confidence in.
Even after her primary campaign, which is rapidly degenerating from tragedy into farce?
Obama knows how to run things. Clinton, clearly, doesn't. Anyone who hasn't seen the truth of that in the last few months is willfully blind.
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Comments closed March 13, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
This can only encourage an arms race for the most obscure reference usable for "Obama is the ___________ of American politics!"
Barack Obama is the Michael Sata of American politics!
http://www.afrol.com/articles/21593
Posted by El Cid | February 28, 2008 1:34 PM