Justin Trudeau: Never Quite Good Enough

We see it happen over and over in community organizations, especially performance groups. A charismatic personality achieves prominence, eventually rising to leadership. If he (it’s usually a male) is good at his job, (a choir director, star performer or publicity expert) this can be good for the group. In the short term.

Unfortunately, people don’t tend to develop above-average charisma without an above-average need for validation. Often, the image of the group becomes heavily tied to the image of the leader.

This causes two problems. First, since we are all blind in some way to our own weaknesses, the leader makes mistakes. Second, in order to maintain control over the group, the leader must discourage all competition.

I’m sure you can see where this is going. If the leader messes up and is unable to continue leading, there are no up-and-coming leadership candidates waiting in the wings. Sometimes the organization collapses.

This pattern is all very “ho hum” if we’re talking about an amateur theatre troupe. Unfortunately, it also plays out in the government of nations.

India

A friend of mine the other day was telling me that, no matter how repressive and jingoistic Narendra Modi was, he had made some marvelous progress in reforming the bureaucracy to remove the graft and corruption that plagues the country.

I felt compelled to remind her who had pulled Germany out of the mess caused by the Great Depression and the Weimar Republic.

Israel

A political scientist on CBC news last week was speaking about the marvel of the volunteer Israelis who are stepping up to organize the war effort. He suggested that fourteen years of divide-and-rule populist government by Benjamin Netanyahu has dismantled the government organizations that were supposed to be there to take over in case of emergency. This model certainly explains his attack on the Israeli judicial system.

United States

I hope I don’t need to explain how the Republican party has got itself into its present dysfunctional mess.

And Then There’s Canada

If you go back to my original characterization, you will see that Justin Trudeau fits the role perfectly. He gained his position through his charisma at a time when the Liberals needed a charismatic leader. He has made a series of personal bad decisions, leaving himself and his party open to attack by their opponents. And, perhaps worst of all, he has gathered the reins of the power to the Prime Minister’s Office even more than Steven Harper did, giving nobody in the Liberal caucus the opportunity to develop the experience and public image required to take over when he steps down. Or more likely, when he gets chucked, which will certainly happen if he loses the next election.

Chrystia Who?

The only possible Liberal with the moxie to do the job has spent the last few years with her head down, working hard at key government roles, keeping the party and the nation functioning. But in the process, staying out of the spotlight, where a future leader needs to be.

I recall in the old days someone saying that Joe Clark was a savvy, intelligent politician who would have made a great Prime Minister if he’d had a decent chance to prove himself. I’m afraid history might write Chrystia Freeland into the same category.

Whittle the Tax

The latest disaster to strike the Liberals is not of their own doing, but comes at exactly the wrong time. The polls don’t look sunny for the Liberals, winter is approaching, and the citizens of the Maritimes just got hit with the next bump in the carbon tax. Since keeping that region happily Liberal is important, the political decision to give Maritimers back all their new payments is a major blow to a key Liberal policy. And, as you might expect, a great boost to Poilievre’s simplistic oil-support campaign.

Althea Raj made the point on CBC the other night that this is exactly how democracy is supposed to work. You put up a policy, and if the voters don’t go for it, you back off. Scant comfort to the Liberals who, at this moment, don’t need to look weak to their grassroots support.

The Bottom Line

The only thing that is going to save Canada when climate change becomes unmanageable is the realization that huge sacrifices have to be made. This recognition has to come from the population and from our leaders. Both. It’s a chicken/egg situation, and it seems to me that everybody is waiting for the other side to start first.

If you’re waiting for political leadership, forget it. A Prime Minister who got elected on his charisma and proceeded to dribble it away in personal scandals has nothing and nobody to fall back on, and no political credit to spend when times get tough.

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