POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY LAWRENCE MARTIN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
There is no surprise to thoughtful observers about Harper and Obama getting on.
It is only an apparent paradox, not a real one.
First, Obama has proven far more conservative than people thought, and indeed rather a political throwback of a president.
He keeps the killing machine and the secret prisons going just as the wretched Bush would have done, having upped the stakes in the pointless war in Afghanistan while initiating fairly large-scale killing of people in Pakistan, the last by remote control no less.
He also has not fought one significant battle for the things most people regard as true liberalism and democratic values.
Second, Harper simply grovels at the American alter, a worshiper of Old Glory if ever there was one, so what is the surprise at his cooperating warmly with anyone holding power there?
His entire political style and vocabulary seems to have been adopted from Republicans in Texas.
Last, it is simply inaccurate to speak of an open border.
What America wants, and Harper appears eager and ready to accommodate, is just moving the protected nature of the border to our perimeter - with Americans deciding the nature of the protection to be established there.
Hardly big thinking.
But then I suspect, Lawrence Martin, you reflect the fact, in your well-recognized role as a frequent apologist for the Liberal Party, that the unappetizing Ignatieff, former official spokesperson for the glories of American empire, is the Liberal Party's pathetic appointed Leader, and who would doubt he is right on board with this dark business?
