A month ago, Brian Mulroney took Stephen Harper apart on national television. This weekend, writing in the National Post, Conrad Black told Harper his fifteen minutes were up:
If Harper really, seriously, wants his government re-elected, he should let it change leaders. That does not appear to be his pleasure and I can’t blame a man for wanting to keep his job, but he must know that if he doesn’t, his countrymen will be profoundly tempted to do it for him. The only federal leaders in Canadian history to win four straight elections were Macdonald and Laurier; the only person in any serious democracy to do so in the last century was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stephen Harper is distinguishable from them.
The polls keep telling Harper the same thing. But he keeps soldiering on -- literally -- into the sands of Iraq. Now Peggy Mason, Canada's former ambassador for disarmament to the United Nations, warns that Harper's hopping on the bombing bandwagon will make matters worse:
Stephen Harper and his allies are underestimating their opponents as a bunch of religious extremists bent on spreading wanton mayhem and terror. Islamic State may be brutally ruthless, but they know exactly what they are doing.
Their core is made up of seasoned, motivated fighters and an extremely experienced leadership that go back to the “dirty war” waged by the American and British Special Forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2009.
ISIL is playing a strategical game of chess with its every move, while the West is playing military tic-tac-toe.
Mr. Harper has never been one to ask for advice. And it's clear he's taking none. But, as the chorus gets louder, it should be abundantly clear that the prime minister suffers from severe megalomania.
