Why is this man smiling?

He’s had a nightmarish couple of weeks in Parliament and in the press with scandal after scandal competing for space on the front page of every national paper.  The talk two days ago leaned heavily toward an almost certain spring election, one in which harper would be placed on the defensive, his very character and judgment under attack.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to use a massive tragedy for his domestic political gain, steve used the Japan disaster to push his own agenda.  That pretty much blew up in his face, showing him to be the heartless, opportunistic bastard that he is.

So why is he smiling?  He gets to use words such as “act of war”; “military operation”; “casualties”; “military action”; “campaigns”...

He gets to hang out with military defense staff, pose for photo ops in from of really fucking cool military equipment, gets to wear military gear.  He gets to has his picture taken next to real world leaders.

Best of all, he gets to play on voter’s emotions by using terms he has no real respect for:

"One either believes in freedom or one just says one believes in freedom," he declared.  "The Libyan people have shown by their sacrifice that they believe in it. Assisting them is a moral obligation upon those of us who profess to believe in this great ideal."


The reality:

...Harper never tried to persuade Canadians to keep combat troops in Afghanistan because of a "moral obligation" to fight for the great ideal of freedom.  It's not too hot, not too cold: the Goldilocks foreign policy. A hawk in opposition, Harper rarely gets too far in front of public opinion, now that he's in government.

The new, militant tone on Libya is a case in point. Did we hear Harper or his ministers baying for the downfall of Gadhafi before the UN decided, after much delay, to use force against him? No. But, now, we hear the ever-cautious Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign minister, insisting that "Gadhafi must leave."

So we are expected to forget, for the time being at least, that our own freedoms were brutally and ruthlessly stomped on during the G20, at the Montebello summit, in the perimeter agreement with Obama...

We are supposed to forget, for the time being, at least, that he has such contempt for our rights that his bunch faces contempt charges, is under investigation by Elections Canada, and hired a felon as one of his closest advisors.

We are supposed to forget, for the time being at least, that he suspended Parliament twice to save his own ass, denying Canadians their right to an active government.

We are supposed to forget, for the time being at least, that he gave us the biggest deficit in our country’s history, has spent more of our tax dollars on self-promotion than any other PM, has relentlessly attacked the very independent watchdogs put in place to defend our rights and freedoms.

We are supposed to forget, for the time being at least, that he runs the most secretive government in our history when access to information is essential for citizens to maintain their rights and freedoms.

We are supposed to forget all of this because this self-serving, opportunistic sociopath will play on our mindless, emotional response to war and kicking ass - someone else’s ass.

It’ll most likely work.  At least short term, and that’s all harper cares about - getting through his current crisis.

If Gadhafi is quickly taken out with minimal bloodshed - preferably with most of the blood pouring from Libyans - stevo will come out looking good in the eyes of many Canadians, and all will be forgiven, for the time being at least.  It won’t matter that he didn’t back the invasion until after the Liberals brought it up, and it won’t matter that he waited to see what other countries were doing or that they will likely be the ones determining the outcome.  Harper will do what he always does - take credit for what works out well, and place blame for abysmal failures.

If the Libya mission drags on and kills off more Libyans than ground fighting would have, well, it won’t matter to harper because he’ll have pulled through the next couple of weeks by making many Canadians forget what an incompetent, self-serving, lying, small-minded, anti-democratic politician he is.