Beware the ides of November!

A busy week this has been politically speaking. In the US the Tea party has growled loud and clear, decimating the Democrats in house and giving them a good thumping in the Senate where the Dem’s majority hangs by a thread. Ones wonder if Obama can hear the message sent or is he going to replay the bunker scene in the movie “Downfall”?

I think part of Obama’s problem was that the Democrats did too well in the previous election, winning the House, Senate and the Presidency. This “Perfect storm” diluted the checks and balances built into the US system and coupled with an inexperienced president who had been oversold as a “messiah” by the media has lead to the vast disappointment and outright contempt for him. Had he faced a more balanced government, he might not have destroyed his brand and reputation so quickly. I think Obama is done as a President and will forever more be seen as ‘damaged goods”.




Meanwhile back here in BC our Premier aka “Gordo” suddenly decided to step down. Somehow I don’t think this move was voluntary. I suspect he stepped into his very pissed off cabinet and saw all the knives sitting on the table sharpened and ready to be used. Likely he was given the choice to resign or play the lead role in a domestic version of Julius Caesar.
BC has a habit of destroying political parties as both the Social Credit and NDP found out the hard way, I expect the Liberals to desperately try to salvage some political credibility prior to the next election. Can they succeed in steering their ship away from the reef of political doom? Only time will tell. I suspect the new leader might move up the binding referendum on the HST as a means to distance themselves from Gordon Campbell. I suspect he might be encouraged to take a long vacation out of the public eye for a bit.

Gordo, busy shuffling the deckchairs

Cartoon courtesy of the Vancouver Sun

Gordo, for you international visitors is the Premier of our Province, an area larger than many countries. His current approval rating is somewhere around 9% courtesy of his own self inflicted wounds, the latest being the HST tax. Not to mention that little deal for BC Rail either. His answer to this minor problem of being absolutely despised is to shuffle his ministers around and to make a public announcement. I wonder if you can get a minus public approval rating? This is despite our Province doing better than the rest of the country and fairly successful winter Olympics. I can imagine his ministers sitting in Cabinet comparing him to Nero?
I have always despised Gordon Campbell, I saw his style when he was Mayor, it sucked back then and it sucks now. The worst part of this sorry tale is that the opposition is not much better, the NDP have stumbled along under the lackluster leadership of Carole James and frankly I have to say she is the only one that can save Campbell, just as he is the only one that could possible get her elected. I wish we had a Shakespeare to write a play about this farce, I wonder what he would call it?
Meanwhile reluctant voters will trudge to the polls with the option of jumping from a cesspool into pool full of nuts. Thankfully I have a Conservative running in my area, otherwise I might have to vote for the resident Marxist-Leninist who normally gets 5 votes (no doubt one from Mom) I miss the Rhino party at least they were honest about not wanting to do anything constructive, other than changing driving from the right to the left, gradually buses and trucks the first year and the cars that survive the next year!