I share Howard Hampton’s frustration. While as a partisan Liberal I’m happy that there has been so much focus during the campaign on the faith-based schooling issue, as it has proven to be kryptonite for The John Tory Team, as a voter I’m disappointed that not enough attention has been paid to other issues.
So, I do understand Hampton’s frustration, I share his sentiments, and I think he said some things that needed to be said. But two problems:
1) His rant just went on too long. He had made his point well early but he kept on going, the smoke blowing out of his ears, and at some point he crossed the line from impassioned and forceful to whiny and pathetic. He lost his cool.
2) At its core, he’s saying he hasn’t been able to get his message out. To blame the media for that is slightly pathetic. If the NDP has failed in getting its message out, and the polling numbers would seem to back that out, then the NDP has no one to blame but itself.
So, while it will please and energize his base (which was probably the point, stop the bleeding) by crossing the line from impassioned to angry Hampton will just come off as whiny, ineffective and lacking leadership skills to the rest of the electorate, in my view. Did he look like a Premier? Not at all.
On the plus side for Howie, he sure got his message out this time, didn't he? Unfortunately though, we're talking about how angry he is, not about his issues, so maybe not so much.
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2 comments:
What's confusing is that he appears surprised that policy is being ignored by the media. Where has he been? The entire reason why bloggers are exploding both north and south of the Canadian/American border is because the media absolutely sucks at covering politics and policy, and people who care about either want to read from other people who do too.
That said, the school funding story is a dramatic one, and third parties have a big problems historically getting their message out, so this probably wouldn't be a big surprise even if the media weren't absolutely terrible.
Howard Hampton's Howard Dean moment? YYYYYYEEEEAAAAAA versus FU MEDIA.
It's too bad cuz I actually like Howard Hampton, he's one of the better NDP leaders in this country.
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