Canada's Wesley Clark

General Wesley Clark, a Presidential candidiate so stunned he thought it would be a good idea to mock John Kerry for only making it to the rank of Lieutenant, has dropped out of the race. Good riddance.

Paul Wells compares Belinda Stronach to Wesley Clark - that is, she's being put up people who think she'd be an "electable" candidate on paper, regardless of her competence as a politician. Ouch.

Every time a political party anywhere chooses a leader, there is a faction -- usually the best-financed and most articulate faction -- that polishes up and pushes onstage a candidate who is Electable. Any objection to the candidate's obvious limitations is rebutted with an impatient variation on "Yeah, whatever. But the other guys can't get elected."

The logic is always the same. This guy Tony Clement, all he did was run Ontario's health-care system during the SARS crisis. This guy Stephen Harper, all he did was help found Reform, lay the intellectual groundwork for the Clarity Act, take the lead in creating the Conservative party and rebuild the dignity of the Canadian Alliance.

Pikers, both of them. And they're so . . . geeky. What if we could create our own leader of a new party? A real dream candidate?

Yeah! We'd make her really . . . OK, reasonably smart! Started university! Related to a great entrepreneur! Stinking rich!

Fabulicious!

Oh, don't you start with me. You know perfectly well that Stronach would not have won beach-blanket coverage in the nation's papers and newscasts if she looked like, say, Tony Clement. Hey, where is Tony anyway? Oh, there he is in the corner, leaping up and down, flailing his arms, begging for our attention. Go away, Tony. We've found a dream candidate. She's electable.
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Belinda Stronach? Flash some ankle or a money clip and the rubes will forget they ever heard of Paul Martin. Stockwell Day? In 2000 a well-paid political columnist explained to me patiently that Day's sex appeal would net him millions of women's votes.

Because that's the way women vote, isn't it? "I'm not sure about this guy's stance on abortion, social programs or the Middle East. But if I vote for him, he just might sleep with me."

The most obvious comparison of all, of course, is to Kim Campbell, who at least held elective office - at both the provincial and federal levels - before launching her leadership bid.

Right now I'm leaning strongly toward Harper, but there will be a candidiates' debate on CBC Newsworld's Politics at 5:10 PM (Eastern) this evening. Hopefully that will clear up my decision once and for all.

Posted by damian at February 11, 2004 07:36 AM