Reflections on Vancouver, British Columbia and other topics, related or not
For once, Canada leads.
Will America follow?
President Oprah Winfrey would be the Yanks’
closest possible imitation of our prime minister
Greg Klein | January 9, 2018
At least as charismatic and stupid as Turdeau, Winfrey even uses
that weird finger gesture that’s endemic among Canadian politicians.
For those who despaired of any uniqueness to this Trump-obsessed country, the prospect of the U.S. electing a touchy-feely fashionable flake of a celebrity leader brings solace. We did it first and set the bar high for others to follow.
Some teeth-grinding from the National Post aside, Canada’s media show no sign of tiring of our prime ministerial preener, who’s transformed them into cloying paparazzi. Oprah Winfrey could do the same in her country.
Of course she wouldn’t be a carbon copy. Responding to North Korea, for example, Princess Justin would have issued a formal national apology. But a President Oprah? Take a close look at almost any photo of this supposedly wonderful person and you might wonder how quickly she’d nuke any country whose leader would dare slight her.
On the subject of Winfrey, B.C. ex-premier Christy Clark would probably have been more successful hosting an Oprah-type TV show than she was in politics. The photo-op queen came across as a failed forerunner of the politician-as-celebrity.
Probably all politicians want stature, but political prominence traditionally differs from celeb status, bringing ongoing public criticism, even animosity. By entering politics to become a celebrity, Clark wanted to be liked. So does Turdeau, but he seems destined to sustain his popularity. Rich, good-looking, Quebecois and as shallow as a 10-year-old girl heading a Grade 6 Truth and Reconciliation tribunal, all he has to do is continue his sanctimoniously fatuous platitudes while fluttering his eyelids at an adoring fourth estate.
As a politician who was already a celebrity, however, Winfrey might bring to mind Ronald Reagan. But from what very little I know of that Yank, I get the impression he did have a little (probably very little) in the way of ideas or policies that he wanted to pursue, even at the risk of being vilified. Anyway, as a Hollywood veteran, he must have known damn well that the media never grant any Republican a fair shake, let alone the demi-god treatment they gave the Kennedys, Clintons and Obama, and that’s pretty much guaranteed to Winfrey.
Would she ever acknowledge that a Canadian inspired her to make such a move? Fucken Yank probably wouldn’t. Besides, that country might be not so much following Canada as travelling a parallel route. Still, Canadians can brag that as the Western world becomes increasingly, stupidly, dangerously flaky, we did it first!