I have an oped in today's Ottawa Citizen -- available free online here -- about what the Harper Tories have to do to win this election. I wrote this last week, and much of it appears in the book as well. Judging by Harper's performance last night (see below post) he's well on his way to adopting this strategy. A snippet:
History shows that conservative parties win when they offer hope for the future and play up patriotism. Ronald Reagan spoke of America as a "shining city upon a hill.'' Margaret Thatcher's first election platform in 1979 started out by stating: "It is the task of the Conservative party today to restore hope and confidence to a disillusioned British people.'' Mike Harris, who won back-to-back majority provincial governments in the 1990s, used to say his goal was to make his province "the best place to live in, work and raise a family.''
All these leaders used powerful, positive language to explain how conservative policies offer a chance for a better future. Mr. Harper has not done that. He has appeared negative and grumpy. Even Prime Minister Paul Martin has noticed. In the summer of 2004, he reportedly told a caucus meeting that "people see hope in us. Stephen Harper has never talked about hope.''
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:04 AM
