There has been lots of speculation recently that Stephen Harper might be ready to walk off into a snowstorm. But his appointment last week of Dimitri Soudas as the executive director of the Conservative Party has dampened such speculation. Michael den Tandt writes that no one knows what Harper is planning to do:
Harper seldom does what he is expected to do, and he never does what the media tells him he should do. He was urged to move the party to the centre and undertake a “charm offensive” the summer before last. Never happened. We half expected the same this past summer, along with a reboot in the PMO and in Cabinet. Nope. And in each case, at every turn, even senior people in the party confessed they didn’t really know which way the wind would blow. They didn’t know then. They likely don’t know now. Stephen Harper keeps his own counsel.
The appointment of Ray Novack to head the PMO and Soudas' appointment make one thing clear: When the going gets tough, Stephen Harper goes to his bunker. His present troubles have not opened his mind. If anything, he is building his firewalls higher.
Some men are challenged by problems. Harper blames them on someone else. Some men grow while in office. Harper keeps getting smaller and smaller.
