I'm not talking about the new George Cluney movie on Edward R Murrow and Joe McCarthy, but rather the latest drama from our new Prime Minister and his evolving (or is it revolving) list of staffers (although it makes good material for a movie!)
The recent firing of his communications director (4th since becoming leader) shows a potential issue looming in the background - i'm just not sure whether its a good one or a bad one.
Getting rid of a communications director is not a bad thing - particularly early on if it's discovered they are not the right fit for the job, not able to handle the pressure of the job or some combination of both.
Being the communications director for the Prime Minister of Canada is a job not designed for the light-hearted and requires a level of dedication beyond any level most of us will ever be asked to achieve.
Despite was some anti-political types say, communications professionals play an important role within the political environment.
Communication is at the very cornerstone of the Canadian political system and managing that function, so it clearly outlines direction, is critical to ensuring Canadians understand where their elected representatives are heading on any issues.
However, if the latest firing is based on the Prime Minister's "greater" understanding of communications, I am a little worried.
As Don Martin wrote in his column this morning, firing one is no big deal. Firing four is a pattern. As well, given the Prime Minister's track record of fading in and out of the media limelight as leader of the opposition, coupled with the recent Emerson/Fortier blunders, one wonders if the Prime Minister isn't trying to manage issues by blaming someone else.
As well, by naming the head of the Conservative Party's war room in the recent election campaign as his new Director of Comms, the Prime Minister is sending a strong message that communications from the PMO will be extremely political - this despite campaigning on a platform of non partisan, and open and transparent government.
So we'll have to wait and see how this latest drama unfolds and whether it helps to kill the other blunders the PM and his team have faced in the early days. the good thing is it's still the early days. The bad thing is it might be another pattern forming.
William Stairs can run off and write his tell all book "Inside the Harper Government - the first 14 days" and Sandra Buckler can assume the role of spoon feeding journalists with the message of the day.
1 comment:
This prime minister has surrounded himself with a circle of "western insiders", who are determined to keep all others out of the circle. This prime minister is, first and foremost, the man who wrote the policy book for Preston Manning's Reform Party, and his heart and brain are still immersed in those policies. His unbelieveable arrogance, first created by Reformers calling him "brilliant", and since nurtured by his own petulant self-indulgence, manifests itself in his personal belief that he's the only smart one in the group, that everyone else is basically stupid, and he can do everything better than anyone else. That gives him the excuse to believe he is a better communicator than all those he has hired to do the job. It does not, however, allow him to recognize that he is hell-bent on a path of political self destruction.
As the weeks move on, we'll see more and more of his Reform beliefs making their way to the surface of his agenda. Joining with the Tories and renaming the party, has not made him a Conservative in the old Progressive Conservative sense. He's a Reformer, and always will be! Canadians must recognize the mistake they've made, and clamour for the defeat of this government sooner rather than later so we can correct the mistake we've made in our haste to rid ourselves of the Liberals. I think we'll find they were not the worst thing to happen to Canada, as Harper so successfully convinced us during the last session of the House and through the election fiasco.
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