The politics of persona

By Barbara Yaffe
Canwest News Service

Conservative leader and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper holds 14-month-old Eric Huang during a campaign stop at the Huang family home in Richmond, British Columbia. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Establishment figures are out and the common man is in as political contenders in both Canada and the U.S. aim to convince voters that - really and truly - they're just like us.

Call it the politics of persona. It's being promoted in paid media, on party websites and even in scrums. No longer is it sufficient for competing parties to advance detailed policy platforms - as Canada's Liberals did to such great effect in 1993 with a hefty Red Book full of campaign promises.

Or as Stephen Harper's Conservatives did in 2006. Remember how they launched their campaign with five distinct pledges dealing with a child benefit, health care, taxes, accountability and crime?

This time around, parties are putting forward a modest array of new proposals - the Green Shift in the Liberals' case, a two cent lowering of diesel fuel tax in the Conservatives'.

But it's the personalities, lifestyles and hobbies of the Canadian party leaders that are dominating the early part of the campaign.

Certainly, in the U.S. the same trend has been apparent since the start of the primary season in January. It's as though campaign strategists are trying to reach out and touch voters by coaxing a positive gut reaction to their candidates. They're saying, `Look at our guy, he's just like you.'

The ballot question no longer is merely `who would you prefer to sit down and have a beer with?' It has become `who do you relate to most? Who lives the sort of life you do? Who shares your pain and dreams? Who will be `you' in the Commons or Congress?'

No election strategist, in years gone by, would have dreamed of putting Pierre Trudeau or Lester Pearson in a sweater vest, seated by a fire, talking about his personal life.

Leaders used to be erudite people we admired from afar. Some, like Trudeau and the Kennedys, were positively patrician, worldly and highly educated folks who lived in ivy-covered brick mansions and drove around in limousines.

This week Conservatives, on their website, posted "10 things you might not know about Prime Minister Stephen Harper." Did you know that Harper, as a boy, had paper routes in Leaside and central Etobicoke? That he loves watching curling and "can sing (sort of) . . . The PM eagerly participates in karaoke with family and friends."

The Liberal website features video of Dion snowshoeing with his dog and playing ball hockey. The Liberal leader told reporters last week he and wife Janine Krieber have to figure out at the end of the month how to pay their bills, just like other families.

Starbucks most definitely is out; Tim Hortons is in. Stateside, savvy Republicans selected a presidential running mate they perceived would have strong personal appeal, and they were right.

Sarah Palin, who has been appearing on the campaign trail wearing glasses, her hair in a ponytail, is a combination of Annie Oakley and the girl next door.

Even before we heard where the Republicans' vice-presidential pick stands on policy, we learned she's a good shot and is a pro-life mother with five kids. She used to be a barracuda on the basketball court and got married when pregnant.

Part of Palin's appeal is that she's so much like Jane Every Girl, that she's an anti-politician. Voters have no idea where she stands on foreign policy, but they sure as heck know she's just as frustrated with the way politics is conducted in Washington, D.C., as they are.

Republicans went into panic mode when John McCain could not recall how many homes he and his millionaire wife Cindy have; that put him at a dangerous distance from American taxpayers, some of whom are currently defaulting on mortgages. 

Democrats are heavily promoting Barack Obama as a regular guy, a dad with two kids and a working wife. They're downplaying details that make him appear high falutin', such as his Harvard education or his own millionaire status.

Wanna-be VP Joe Biden's blue-collar status and small-town Scranton, Pa., upbringing is being trumpeted. Here's a guy who takes the train home to Wilmington, Del., from Washington, D.C., every night to be with his family.

Disenchanted with establishment figures, voters have now turned to Politicians R Us.