As I was saying …
So I caught the Harper ad during the Super Bowl last week.
When the spot opens, it is midnight in the garden of Parliament; the announcer and a mysterious figure seem like the last two people on earth. The witching hour is upon us in Parliament and all is dark and shuttered. There are no well lit hallways, no sounds of cleaning staff running a damp mop over things, no lonely security staff standing on guard. Down this long long Parliamentary hallway, lit by what looks like one single 60 watt bulb, strides the unmistakable silhouette of he-who-must-be-obeyed, the puffed up pomposity of the prime minister himself.
And what is he doing? Going to work about midnight, if we are to believe it. He steps up the stairs leading to his office, with maybe one light bulb pushing back the darkness, until we reach his office. And there, with shirt sleeves rolled down, cuffs buttoned and tie firmly in place, the prime minister does his homework. No matter how long he works, no wrinkle dares march across his shirt, the tie doesn’t loosen by even one thread and his carefully coiffed hair doesn’t so much as let a breeze pass across it.
This is real, man. We are not fooling around. We are AT WORK and our country of slackers are no match for this steely disciplinarian. We are AT WORK and we are doing our homework.
With a ball point pen.
He shuffles through the paper, although never more than five or six stacks at one time, making notes in the margins, writing earnestly; every once in awhile he stands up, takes a few steps around his chair, then he settles in again. No phone interrupts him, no one is around to provide minimal security, no mp3 or ipod blips out music. It is the sounds of silence, where nothing is allowed to distract our focus on this one guy, running the country by his lonesome.
In the beginning I sort of half laughed, the way one does when you are expecting laugh cues, but then you realize “holy fake lake, he’s serious!”
This is the image he want to convey. One man alone, beavering away and making decisions for the nation while all about him are tucked into bed for the night. Suddenly it isn’t funny at all, but rather pathetic that neither Harper nor his staff see anything wrong with the image and the reality.
The thing is, until those ads, we didn’t have a graphic image of what our one man dictatorship really looks like but it is coming clearer daily. Whatever the issue or concern, there is no cabinet, there are no MPs, there is no team working on the nation’s problems. It is one man, working in splendid isolation, away from the facts, away from people.
What price, I wonder, will we pay for all of this?
Interesting analysis.
Where is your team? How is their message being received?
Has the third leader since Chretien was asked to leave improved the standing of the Liberal party in the hearts and minds of the voters?
What do the by elections, balance sheets and numerous ‘polls’ tell you?
Is the country going in the right direction and is the government also? (The polls bring bad tidings for those who want a change)
I thought that. ad was taken down..they just added to it…it is a complete ruse. Everything is a lie around Harper and he lies about Ignatieff..what do the have against intellectuals who went to Harvard and taught there..are they insanely jealous of a good education We will find out who the next month or so.
The ad seems to have been softened a bit but the message is clear and not one I think they intended to sell.