Charlie Angus Could Be The Bernie Sanders Of Canada
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:55 amCharlie Angus Could Be The Bernie Sanders Of Canada
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/james-di-f ... 99696.html ]
James Di Fiore, Writer, film producer, political pundit.
Posted: 11/24/2016 10:45 am EST Updated: 11/24/2016 12:17 pm EST
EXCERPT:
The 2015 election saw Justin Trudeau out-progressive Tom Mulcair, who should have kept being Angry Tom instead of Fake Smile Tommy. An Angus-led NDP would diminish Trudeau's ability to present himself as the only choice for the left, especially in hot-button areas like climate change and indigenous affairs. Trudeau's credibility on both those files has taken a beating [ http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/04 ... ine-stance ]. The prime minister's penchant for pipelines and his government's foot dragging on native issues has caught the ire of actual progressives, who were a sizeable swath of the Liberal party's base last year.
Add to that a sharp right turn via the privatization of Canada's infrastructure [ https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-giveaway ] and you have a Trudeau who will find it hard to claim the progressives he covets dearly to survive.
Without those votes the Liberals could lose their majority status in an election where the Conservative party runs a second tier candidate. The conservatives saw virtually every household name take a pass on the next election, and while they would never admit to doing so, they presumably saw Trudeau as a sure thing in 2019. But the downside of trying to run an ambidextrous government is that you have to juggle two ideologically opposed groups, or hope you can hold on to just enough from both sides to keep governing.
Of course, all of this is speculation. But the reason why a candidate like Angus is so interesting is because the new conventional wisdom is that there is no conventional wisdom anymore. A self-described socialist almost won the nomination for president of the United States, and probably would have won if the party he ran under did not work tirelessly against him. So the prospect of a true left-leaning politician inspiring voters from various sub-political persuasions no longer seems so far fetched. Both Sanders and Angus also have a history of activism [ http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2014/02/ ... e-dump-war ], reinforcing a kind of credibility among progressives looking for a sort of anti-politician.
Most importantly, Sanders and Angus both sound honest when they speak, a kind of credibility that, even if you disagree with them, protects them from having their characters assassinated. Trudeau doesn't have that, he has charm, and whomever the conservatives elect as leader probably won't have either trait. It is an invaluable asset in politics -- to be seen as an honest-to-god straight shooter while having a personal backstory that plays to the populace's new thirst to buck the system -- all while sporting a personality that would surely end in Parliament getting punk'd in the best way possible.
A moral majority comprised of people. Not lefties or socialists following another lefty, just people thinking that a leader is telling us the truth.
To that I say hey, ho...let's go.
= = = =
Who is Charlie Angus?
[ https://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/web?q ... &qsrc=2869 ]
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/james-di-f ... 99696.html ]
James Di Fiore, Writer, film producer, political pundit.
Posted: 11/24/2016 10:45 am EST Updated: 11/24/2016 12:17 pm EST
EXCERPT:
The 2015 election saw Justin Trudeau out-progressive Tom Mulcair, who should have kept being Angry Tom instead of Fake Smile Tommy. An Angus-led NDP would diminish Trudeau's ability to present himself as the only choice for the left, especially in hot-button areas like climate change and indigenous affairs. Trudeau's credibility on both those files has taken a beating [ http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/04 ... ine-stance ]. The prime minister's penchant for pipelines and his government's foot dragging on native issues has caught the ire of actual progressives, who were a sizeable swath of the Liberal party's base last year.
Add to that a sharp right turn via the privatization of Canada's infrastructure [ https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-giveaway ] and you have a Trudeau who will find it hard to claim the progressives he covets dearly to survive.
Without those votes the Liberals could lose their majority status in an election where the Conservative party runs a second tier candidate. The conservatives saw virtually every household name take a pass on the next election, and while they would never admit to doing so, they presumably saw Trudeau as a sure thing in 2019. But the downside of trying to run an ambidextrous government is that you have to juggle two ideologically opposed groups, or hope you can hold on to just enough from both sides to keep governing.
Of course, all of this is speculation. But the reason why a candidate like Angus is so interesting is because the new conventional wisdom is that there is no conventional wisdom anymore. A self-described socialist almost won the nomination for president of the United States, and probably would have won if the party he ran under did not work tirelessly against him. So the prospect of a true left-leaning politician inspiring voters from various sub-political persuasions no longer seems so far fetched. Both Sanders and Angus also have a history of activism [ http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2014/02/ ... e-dump-war ], reinforcing a kind of credibility among progressives looking for a sort of anti-politician.
Most importantly, Sanders and Angus both sound honest when they speak, a kind of credibility that, even if you disagree with them, protects them from having their characters assassinated. Trudeau doesn't have that, he has charm, and whomever the conservatives elect as leader probably won't have either trait. It is an invaluable asset in politics -- to be seen as an honest-to-god straight shooter while having a personal backstory that plays to the populace's new thirst to buck the system -- all while sporting a personality that would surely end in Parliament getting punk'd in the best way possible.
A moral majority comprised of people. Not lefties or socialists following another lefty, just people thinking that a leader is telling us the truth.
To that I say hey, ho...let's go.
= = = =
Who is Charlie Angus?
[ https://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/web?q ... &qsrc=2869 ]