Michael Ignatieff More Chess Player Than PM
Liberal leader plays to win
According to the Satire Canada Media Study (SatCan), a brainchild of the Cormex Research group (the leading media content and analysis firm in the country), satire matters, particularly if one is a politician.
SatCan calculated that during the final week of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s tenure, he was Canada’s most satirized figure at 27 per cent of satire pieces (cartoons, etc.). Moreover, during the October 2008 election, he garnered only 24 per cent of the media coverage, significantly less than Stephen Harper.
SatCan’s analysis of Mr. Dion’s tenure as a whole isn’t very pretty either. The major finding was that many of Canada’s editorial cartoonists chose to portray Dion as physically weak, to go along with any perceived political weakness. Calgary Sun cartoonist Thomas Boldt went so far as to include (inexplicably) a pink purse draped over the hapless leader’s slim frame. By contrast, Stephen Harper was generally portrayed as physically domineering, menacing bully.
The outcome of the election seemed perfectly borne out of the characterization of the two men in the media. Harper, liked by few but considered a competent manager by many, won the day. Dion, portrayed as the weak-chinned, slightly effeminate, English-challenged bumbler, was subjected to a humiliating defeat, and an equally humiliating pink slip from his party.
How does Ignatieff fare?
So far, Ignatieff has been cast as a pondering chess player, the man carefully poring over his political options while Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe flounder in the background.
The majority of satire on Michael Ignatieff could be described as, at the very least, quasi-favourable. From the tips of cartoonists' pens come forth images as Ignatieff the decisive, strolling gallantly towards parliament as Jack Layton clings for dear life onto his leg. Another compares Ignatieff to the brainy, sanguine Spock of Star Trek as Ignatieff murmurs, "I'm running because it is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want." "I'm running as a humbler version of my former self," proclaims another Ignatieff toon, holding a crown behind his back.
The crown is a common symbol in Ignatieff satire pieces. Sue Dewar's piece has Ignatieff draped in Crown and robes, cackling to himself, "What coalition?" as Layton and Duceppe tap on his office door pathetically
Indeed, he is off to a great start in terms of fulfilling the prophecy of the editorial cartoons. Within a month of being appointed Liberal leader, he scrapped the coalition agreement between the opposition parties to replace the Conservatives in government. He backed off the carbon tax, which was the cornerstone of the 2008 Liberal platform and, in fact, his own suggestion. A recent National Geographic feature on the Athabasca Tar sands’ impact of the environment and the economy was dismissed: “National Geographic is not going to teach me any lessons about the oilsands,” he said.
This man has a mission, and it is to be prime minister, even if he has to sacrifice a few pawns to do it
In a kind of shallow way, the media and Canadian public respects this image of Ignatieff in the media and satire pieces,much in the same way Mr. Harper is seen as decisive and strong, regardless of his intentions. Will it translate into more seats in Western Canada? Perhaps. But the most important question is consistently overlooked: does Canada want another chess player as prime minister? What, for example, should we think about a man who would throw out sound environmental policy to appease uber-conservatives in Calgary-Southwest?
Stéphane Dion was largely ineffective as a political leader, but at the very least, he had a soul and a set of principles. One can only hope that very soon we will see the same from Mr. Ignatieff. That would be the best of both worlds.
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