Sunday, October 26, 2008

Pinball Will Not Save The Liberal Party Of Canada

...as this article rather naively suggests. However, Michael Clemons might well pull the City of Toronto from the clutches of David Miller, and its more than a bit odd that Rob Granatstein's column today doesn't mention him as a possible candidate. Sure, Clemens has said "no", but the race is a couple of years down the road and there is still time for him to change his mind.

Unless you live here, it is hard to appreciate just how much Toronto loves its Pinball. I have had the pleasure of listening to him speak, and he is (at least when delivering a set-piece) very good. Afterwards, though, when he allows himself to mingle with his audience, is when the wild stuff happens. His bodyguard is apparently under instructions to treat the crowd with kid-gloves, and he is almost literally mobbed by (primarily although not entirely) middle-aged white women, usually a couple inches taller than he is, who want to touch him. The mayoralty is his if he wants it, and who knows that that might serve as a stepping stone to higher office.

So while Pinball is not Canada's Obama, at least not yet, he may be our new Mel Lastman.

2 comments:

Sharkey Goes West said...

This highlights one of the main problems with the Party right now. We are quick to discard our Leaders instead of focusing on fixing the extensive problems with the Party. The Party elite wants a celebrity or someone with connections to Power Corp or a celebrity writer that has been out of Canada for 30 years. It is all about a power grab.
None of this will address renewal or financing.
We need to start making "stars" out of our longstanding Liberals, some only in their 40's, and only through non-tourist Liberals will we get real change.

Ti-Guy said...

Who knows? Everyone seems to be so star-struck these days. If were going for celebrity, I'd rather have someone who resembles a comedian more than anything else.

Off-topic. BCL: How's your campaign going to get Macleans to do without its stamp subsidy? The journalism at that rag has hit new lows recently and I fear that a defunct CanWest and a new American administration is just going to flush out a few more rats that'll end up clinging to it. I'm having nightmares thinking Jonathan Kay, his cart horse of a mother, Mark Steyn, David Frum and maybe a few derelicts at The New Republic being provided sanctuary there on our dime.