How far will wave of popularity carry Justin Trudeau?

Toronto Sun

Trudeau Sr. & Jr./ www.ctvnews.ca

By Monte Solberg 

By the time you read this Joyce Murray will be the new leader of the Liberal party. Surely her victory must rank as one of the greatest upsets in the history of the adult entertainment industry that we call politics.

Given that I sent this column to my powerful QMI overlords last Thursday, I’m at a tiny disadvantage when reporting events that happened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Nevertheless, because I am “gifted,” I happen to “know” with utter certainty that Joyce Murray has won the Liberal leadership.

I will, however, attach a small caveat to all of this. If some of the data I have been using to arrive at this conclusion is off by even an iota, this would completely invalidate my thesis. If even the tiniest dust mite has entered my equation, it will throw off my elaborate calculations.

So, let’s allow there is a small chance that, as you read this, the new Liberal leader might be Justin Trudeau. If so, what would be the impact of this dark horse candidate on the national political scene?

Well, to begin with, the Liberal party would be energized. Out of Stephane Dion, Michael Ignatieff and young Prince Charming, he’s the one most people would want to sit down with over a vanilla, low-fat, triple espresso, shaken-not-stirred, quintuple latte, if not a beer.

I have no idea what you’d chat about, certainly not algebra, but he’d be a charming liberal and that counts for something in politics. Ask Bill Clinton.

In fact, the polls tell us he’d be the prime minister if an election was totally held this second. But this second has now come and gone and over the next few billion seconds before the next election Justin will face tough issues. Ask Bill Clinton.

Of course, Clinton was also a policy wonk and a Rhodes scholar, so he could talk the lingo no matter the issue. Justin? Well, not a policy wonk. Normally that might not matter. It didn’t matter for Jean Chretien, but when he won the election in 1993, the Liberals were the official opposition and Chretien was a seasoned hand. No one but the Liberals had a chance of forming government.

It’s a different story today. The wanker who runs North Korea is threatening to nuke us, the world economy is a mess and the rookie kid with no ideas, heading the third-place party, wants to lead us through it. Maybe he’ll charm us into looking past those details. Maybe we’ll be swept up in his bright-eyed hope that politics can move beyond cynicism.

He tells us that politics should be about voting for something and not against something. But what are we supposed to vote for? His hair? He has no policies. See, it’s hard to take seriously his war on cynicism when he cynically won’t reveal his own ideas about the biggest issues facing the country.

Nevertheless, for the moment, he’s riding a wave. Staying on that wave depends a great deal on the calamities ahead and whether he can grow enough as a leader to tackle and tame them.