His usual lion-like, swaggering, self-assured leadership style is now relatively kitten-like in its vulnerability.
Or if you want to be less poetic about it, the Prime Minister is uncharacteristically passive and defensive.
Of course, this change in Harper’s demeanor is due in part to the seemingly never ending Senate-related scandals currently rocking his government.
I say “in part,” because what really threw Harper off his game, wasn’t so much the Senate scandal itself, but that the scandal and its fallout caught him off guard.
He didn’t expect it to explode as it did and he certainly didn’t expect it to entangle his inner circle.
In short, Harper was caught by surprise and he just doesn’t deal very well with surprises.
Indeed, his inability to improvise is his chief weakness as a political tactician.
That’s not to say Harper isn’t a brilliant strategist. He’s most certainly capable of crafting extremely effective long-term plans. And as long as things go according to his plans, he’s fine.
But when something happens Harper didn’t anticipate, it can throw him for a loop.
That’s why he now seems a little lost when dealing with the ongoing Senate scandal.
In effect, he’s stumbling through a political forest without a map or a compass. He doesn’t know what to do; he’s worried about taking the wrong path.
Mind you, to be fair, Harper is rarely taken by surprise.
The only other time it happened occurred in late 2008 when he (then leading a minority government) introduced a budgetary measure to end public subsidies for political parties.
It seemed a brilliant masterstroke.
Either the Liberals would accept the end to subsidies and hurt themselves financially or they would oppose it, triggering an election they would be sure to lose.
Harper thought he had the Liberals cornered.
But the Liberals, instead of falling into Harper’s trap, set up an alliance with the NDP, an alliance the Bloc Quebecois pledged to support, creating a “coalition” that could in theory, replace the Conservative government.
It was a daring counter move that triggered a constitutional chess match which Harper the strategist had not foreseen.
Caught unawares, he initially seemed unsure and indecisive. With their hold on power at risk, it was a dark period for the Tories.
What ended up saving their skin was time.
Acting on Harper’s advice, the Governor General prorogued Parliament for about a month, giving the prime minister the respite he needed.
During the interim the Liberal Party cooled on the Coalition idea and just as importantly, Harper had a chance to psychologically re-group and to plot a new strategy.
So when Parliament did resume, he was able to seize the initiative.
And the good news for the Tories is that time could be their ally once more, when it comes to dealing with the Senate scandal.
Parliament will soon be shutting down for the summer, meaning not only will Canadians be paying more attention to cottages than to scandals, but also that Harper and his team will have a few precious months to factor in all the repercussions associated with the Senate scandals so they can re-tool and re-calibrate their communication strategy.
This will make all the difference in the world, because once Harper can get back to working from a well plotted script with all the variables accounted for, Senate scandal or no, his confidence will return.
That means expect him to come back in the Fall, once again roaring like a lion.
The only thing that might upset his plans is another unwanted surprise.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: GERRY NICHOLLS
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