Good Advice Stephen.....Take It To Heart

Don't bother lightening up, Mr. Harper. It's just not you

By JEFFREY SIMPSON Saturday, September 1, 2007 The distinguished editorial writers of this newspaper, pondering the conundrums of Stephen Harper's reputation and image as revealed in a Strategic Counsel poll, offered this advice to the Prime Minister: "In the last campaign, Mr. Harper successfully displayed a common touch - not just by becoming a fixture at Tim Hortons, but by adopting a more open and approachable demeanour. In power, those attributes have rarely been on display. The good news for Mr. Harper and his party is that Canadians' votes are there to be had, if only he is able to lighten up." Hmm. Mr. Harper moved from photo op to photo op in the campaign, delivering scripted speeches in front of Conservative-blue backdrops for television. True, he removed his tie, and once or twice hugged a baby. And, to his credit, he answered reporters' questions every day, a practice that stopped the day after the election. But "a fixture at Tim Hortons"? As for the helpful suggestion that Mr. Harper "lighten up," that's like asking George Bush to stop slapping people on the back or Conrad Black to write short, sharp sentences in plain English. The worst possible strategic advice any leader can receive is to be other than himself. We live, for better or worse, in the TV age. Television, of course, struggles to explain anything marginally complicated, so seldom tries. But what TV does accomplish incrementally over time, through its obsessive concentration on personalities and images, is the presentation of a rather rounded portrait of a leader.