The Scene and Herd

I don’t even know what’s going on anymore. After a week without internet, I return online obsessed with my income. So I’m either checking charity village and craigslist  incessantly or I’m online-paralyzed, too cash guilty to indulge myself with poli-blogs…
The last thing I remember is leadership hysteria and a Toronto Star cover quoting Ignatieff threatening the PM to FIX IT!!! It was thrilling. But despite my disconnect, it feels like things are calming down and I’m so happy to have my cds and a kitchen again that all I want to do is hang around making soup and bread (with the bread maker I took from my parents’ house) and watching the whole last season of LOST (two and a half days…I had a cramp in my arm by the last episode. Thank you 2Q video for the great rates).

But I want to come back. The thing is, I’m different than I was two weeks ago. I look at politics differently. 
Now, the economic meltdown is affecting me! I seriously never imagined. I believed that I was immune because no global economic trend has ever had any bearing on my life. But my boss says to me “I don’t think you’ll get any work because of the economy…” and totally blew my mind. Tuition, minimum wage, health care…these things affected me but didn’t affect me because they didn’t interfere with my relationship with goat’s cheese and wine (for example). And now these are sort of the only things missing from my life. Because I can’t afford them. Because of the economy. 

So I’m going to be looking at politics and poli-blogs through a different lens. I’m sort of like, a citizen now or something. I’m a citizen who is worried about the economy. I’m a concerned citizen with an agenda and a few tangible yardsticks. Goat’s cheese and wine for example.

Now I’m distracted. It was my intention to return at some point and say something to the merits of MI. But all this chaos. All this wonderful and exciting and terrifying chaos…

What terrifies me most is imagining what Harper is thinking. He must be freaking out, totally. The idea of that man feeling something chills me a bit, but the idea that he might be feeling rage…that is a nightmare!

Everyone is losing their minds and I’m not sure who to blame. I want to make it clear that I would rather not blame Harper. For the liberal leaning, this is too easy and it bores me. I’ve spent considerable time trying to glean something noble from his character. It can’t be easy leading a minority government.  Really, he is being very difficult. But I don’t think he is “out of touch” with the average Canadian or a total jerk. I believe
that he believes
that he has no other option. 

He is…pressing on because he practically has a phobia. A cooperation phobia, like the idea that he might work with the opposition flies right over his head. Since the election he has been hyper aware that cooperation is looming. He probably has cooperation nightmares. So when everyone else rejected the conservative economic package and someone breathed the word “cooperation” Harper freaked and blurted out “we’re doing it anyway!” 
And subsequently conceded a few things outta panic and now he’s screwed. He swung from one frantic end to another. A man usually so calm and self assured…

I still maintain that Harper could be a good leader. He just needs to really ATTACK this issue. And by issue I mean his issue with cooperation. And by “attack” I mean give it some gentle consideration.