Taken separately, both are worthy pursuits. But, when combined with the catalyst of romance, they are an explosive compound. Consider the case of Dimitri Soudas and Eve Adams. Tim Harper writes:
This week, we present deposed Conservative party executive director Dimitri Soudas and Conservative MP Eve Adams, he a man who has been spinning narratives for a living for years and has made enemies along the way, she a woman who has worn her ambition on her sleeve since arriving here, no matter how clumsily she has pursued that ambition.
“At the end of the day I chose the woman I love over a job I didn’t want in the first place,’’ Soudas said Tuesday.
That is at odds with a much more widely reported narrative about a man who was told he was in charge of the nominations in 337 Conservative ridings heading into next year’s election, but was told to stay away from his fiancée’s coveted Oakville-North Burlington riding. He couldn’t — love and all that — and paid the price, the trigger pulled by a man to whom he has pledged unflinching loyalty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
This wasn't the first time the good ship Harper was blown off course by a power couple:
Former Conservative cabinet minister Helena Guergis, too, stood by her dashing husband, the former Conservative caucus chair Rahim Jaffer, whom she wed the day after the 2008 election — also known as the day after Jaffer somehow lost his previously safe Alberta seat to a New Democrat.
The tawdry and warp-speed demise of that couple has been well-chronicled. Jaffer faced drug possession and impaired driving charges, then allegations he was using his wife’s office for personal gain. Guergis was tossed from cabinet and caucus, the RCMP was called in, she was declared roadkill by Harper, then was embarrassed in her bid to recapture her fleeting political magic in her riding north of Toronto, now remembered there as the former Miss Huronia who squandered influence in the national capital.
There are lots of other examples, not necessarily Canadian. One only needs to remember Bill and Hillary. They weathered the storm. Perhaps Dimitri and Eve will do the same. It will be interesting to see what happens to Stephen Harper.
In the end, love and ambition could play a part in his demise.
