The Saviour Formerly Known as Barack

Blessed are the cutthroat politicians, for they shall inherit the earth.

“There are no messiahs,” writes the Toronto Star’s Thomas Walkom. It’s not a very tasteful statement this time of year, but Walkom’s not trying to ruin your Christmas – he’s talking about the American president. Despite being hailed the country’s saviour when he took office in 2008, Barack Obama has failed to save America from economic peril or the Afghan war, and has not brought peace to the Middle East. Walkom says this should be a lesson to Canada’s Liberals, who “heralded [Michael Ignatieff] as Canada’s Obama” in 2008 and, sensing defeat, are now rumoured to be searching for a new celebrity leader. “[A]s Stephen Harper demonstrates every day,” writes Walkom, “charisma is unnecessary … His rhetoric is uninspiring; yet his ideas are coherent and his aims unshakeable.” Walkom’s memory must be very short, because the Liberals recently had an uncharismatic leader with clear aims who presented a coherent platform to voters. His name was Stéphane Dion, and Harper tore him to shreds. If there’s one thing Harper and the Republicans share it’s a reliance on aggressive tactics, and perhaps a more useful lesson for the Liberals to learn would be that in politics, a willingness to nail your opponent to the wall often trumps both charisma and “unshakeable aims.”

Obama is likely praying for some relief of his own right now, as he faces a tough battle in convincing Democrats to accept the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. His cooperation with Republicans on the extension has been unpopular, but the Montreal Gazette’s L. Ian MacDonald asserts that what’s been overlooked is that “in the process, Obama also extracted what amounts to a second stimulus package from the Republicans” by winning an extension for unemployment benefits and alleviating taxes for the middle class. If this $858-billion stimulus bill doesn’t pay off however, it will only add to the U.S. debt, projected to top 100 per cent of GDP next year. “That's just the Senate version [of the bill],” writes MacDonald. “By the time the House of Representatives gets done, it will probably have a bridge to nowhere.”