Ever vigilant to see what our readers want to know, it was intriguing to see that Babel-on-the-Bay reached new heights in readership yesterday. Imagine the embarrassment when much of the added traffic was found to be people with questions about Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s hair. For a writer who likes to believe he gives serious depth to the political concerns of the day, this is embarrassing.
But there are going to be some slow news days for political observers. These are the times when the devil finds work for idle hands. You sometimes address those questions that strike you as funny rather than the ones you think the reader will find insightful.
But for gosh sakes folks, it was six years ago that Harper hired make-up artist Michelle Muntean away from CTV. She has been travelling on the public nickel ever since to keep Mr. Harper in perfect picture-ready condition. His hair is really an old and tired joke. Is it all real? Who cares? It is just too damn plastered to his skull, too perfect to be pure Harper, too immobile and has not aged with him.
Vanity, your name is Harper. Real men from our generation do not wear make-up for picture opportunities with world leaders. They let their hair be a bit wind-tossed when doing an outdoor announcement. They do not continually have backdrops added to naturally interesting location shots. They do not corral the news media to prevent cameras from getting behind the PM for back shots. The guy is just a prime minister, not God.
Mind you, he traverses the world as some kind of potentate. You would think that Airbus A300 was his own personal aircraft. It is likely that his staff and Cabinet enjoy his travels as when he is home in Canada, he micromanages the business of his government. And Mr. Harper does not micromanage well. The only people who are worse managers are those in his cabinet.
And would you believe the other day at the big Reform Party Rodeo in Ottawa, people were promoting the Cabinet’s own Jason Kenney and Tony Clement as potential new leaders of the party after Harper’s departure. Clement is a Neanderthal who Harper let destroy Statistics Canada. Kenney is just the saddest example we could think of as a Neanderthal with training wheels. Either of them as leader of the Conservative Party is almost as sad an event as dear old Preston Manning giving the Conservative Party a lecture on preserving the environment.
See what we mean about a slow news day?
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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