Stephen Harper Sees Nothing, Hears Nothing and Says Nothing

An editorial in the Edson Leader suggests that Harper's requirement: a listening ear.

Harper tends to stick with one point of view. More, and louder, voices are noticing and commenting on this. Harper needs to develop the ability to bend, to acknowledge others' views. That's a cornerstone of democracy.

Who ever wrote this doesn't understand Herr Harper at all.

An opinion piece in the Toronto Star suggests that Harper missed a golden opportunity to practice what he preaches, when he accuses the Bloc of being un-Canadian.

The PM seems unable to resist dredging up the abortive Liberal-NDP coalition plan of late 2008, in which the BQ merely agreed not to vote to bring down the government for a specified period — even though Harper had sought a similar understanding when he was opposition leader.

Bloc Québécois MP Carole Lavalée gave him a gift, but he didn't see it through the fog of his own paranoia.

And while Harper was holed up at Harrington Lake all summer, Michael Ignatieff found his voice.

Finally, Mr. Ignatieff is turning phrases and choosing words with increasing skill. Gone are the awkward, political-science-bookish references to the desire to fight for the centre. Replacing them is language that is far more effectively tuned. A “big, welcoming, tolerant red tent” is a far more effective way to retail the Liberal Party’s enduring preference for pragmatic centrism, as well as to draw a contrast with what of late has come across as a more cool, standoffish, “our way or the doorway” Conservatism.

And Michael Ignatieff's views are fresh, while the Harperites are singing from the same old songbook: "coalition", "elites", "economy", "prisons", "guns".... Blah, blah, blah.

And soon we will no longer have to listen to Stephen Harper, look at Stephen Harper or speak of Stephen Harper. I can hardly wait.