Sunday 24 January 2016

Open Note to Trudeau 2.0 on North America

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

It seems you are headed to Washington March 10 for a little soiree with President Obama. The President likes you and is getting his staff to throw a big party. A State Dinner; the first for a Canadian Prime Minister in nearly two decades. Good on you. But before you get too carried away with "reset buttons" with Washington, I'd like to make a simple plea.

Canada's most important interests can be found right here in North America. Washington is top of the list. However, if, as you claimed during your campaign, you are serious about revitalising "North America," I'd like to see you get on your plane March 11 and go to Mexico City.

Saturday 16 January 2016

The Obama Years.... My Two Cents

There's something about great political theater that makes it impossible to ignore. Debates, campaign speeches, congressional hearings,.... all of it great theater. State of the Union Addresses (SOTU) are no different, but Tuesday night's SOTU was special because it was President Obama's last. Obama's presidency will be debated and re-hashed by historians for years to come. But since I've been asked about the President's speech, and his legacy, in the days since, I thought I'd throw out a few early observations about his presidency as he heads for the exit.


The laundry list that follows is both incomplete and, in most cases, deserving of book-length treatment. Moreover, it's just my two cents.

Expectations
In 2008-2009, Barack Obama was electrifying. Full stop. A war-weary country looking over the cliff into a financial abyss, was hungry for change. Most didn't get what they were hoping for, including among many of the President's most ardent supporters. In many ways, it's not Obama's fault. It's ours. We expect too much of presidents. We imbue in them the capacity to do things that are extraordinarily difficult to achieve. A lot of that difficulty is intentionally built into the U.S. political system. For that, we have James Madison to thank. Yet, in my view, the expectations we heaped on President Obama went far beyond those we normally assign. I was among them. Like many, I am also disappointed in the last 7 years. But in many ways, our hyperinflated expectations set a standard of judgement that set us all up for disappointment.

Obama is a transformational figure because of who he is and what he represented as the nation's first African-American president. It was a presidency the country needed. But sadly, and undoubtedly because of some of my own inflated expectations, I'm not sure his presidency will be seen as especially transformative.

Redefining the Floor....Down

I was scrolling through some YouTube clips the other day and came across the great Seinfeld episode in which Frank Costanza invites Seinfeld...