rabble.ca Canadian federal election blog

kitchen tables and gumption

by Pam Kapoor

lest there be any doubt that obama fever will infect and impact our own humble federal election, team layton launched its campaign today with messaging straight from the obama playbook.

i shuffled over to the computer this morning with my steaming espresso to find an email from jack himself under the subject heading “stephen harper just quit his job” … snap!

“I want this to be your campaign. I want you to be a part of it, starting today.” … who me? really?

“Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.” … gosh, ok i won’t!

as bloc leader duceppe waxes on about how the bq is the only thing standing between the conservatives and a majority and green may goes on about seeing “the consortium in court”, layton is (finally!) demonstrating some gumption about wanting to govern. the ndp seems to have rocketed out of the gate with the most stern and authoratative posturing. and not surprisingly, they’re talking about CHANGE. hmm.

i, for one, am giddy with anticipation to see how the battle of messages plays out, especially within the context of the mega election happening below us. what will the shadow of obama’s larger-than-life candidacy ‘of hope’ mean for the canuck contenders? the fight between layton and dion for the title of ‘most like obama’ could make for some fascinating political theatre. not to mention the refining of leaders’ images (harper the down-home hockey dad, anyone?). how will the mccain-palin ticket (‘country first’! ‘drill now!’) affect the discourse up here?

jack (like obama) says he will listen to and represent what gets said at our kitchen tables. will ‘we’ speak up, i wonder? and how much will harper sound like a republican surrogate?

if the US presidential election is getting billed as the most important in recent political history, our upcoming election is surely no less critical. where it all ends up remains perilously unclear, but the fight is so important, we best brace ourselves for one helluva campaign season. we are, after all, counting down to a profoundly significant referendum on leadership and direction - of continental proportions.