In the summer doldrums, odd things poke through to grab your attention.
Like this piece in the Calgary Herald about a speech Danny Williams gave back in June. Williams said the federal government spends "too much (time) worrying about how one thing will affect another, how will Quebec react or how will this impact a certain block of votes.
Take that as a gigantic clue to Williams’ thinking.
Or, more precisely, his lack of thinking.
Danny Williams’ success usually comes from a blitz attack aimed at forcing a decision before his opponents had a chance to think.
Williams’ style fits with the media tendency these days to focus on the superficial, flashy and the trivial. In the rush to ratings, the flash of a controversy is always much more important than the consequences.
If it bleeds, it leads and when Danny is on the case odds are good he or someone else will be bleeding.
Williams’ low-thought approach also fits with a world in which most people don’t think about politics very much.
Five minutes?
That’s it.
And within five minutes, Williams could be chasing off after another will o’ the wisp.
But for as many successes as Williams may have produced, he also churned up some rather spectacular failures.
Like Hydro-Quebec. He spent five years trying desperately, secretly trying to sell a chunk of the Lower Churchill to Hydro-Quebec. At the same time, he was publicly kicking the crap out of them. Even as Williams called a rare emergency session of the legislature to try and unshag something he and his legal beagles shagged up during talks on developing the Lower Churchill, he laced into the untrustworthy crowd in Quebec.
Collapse of Hebron talks in 2006? A sudden outburst on Williams’ part as the provincial government and the companies sat a mere 5% apart. It wound up costing the public royalties and local benefits to get a deal in the end.
But for all that, his…shall we say… mercurial style sure delivers great copy.
Like this Telly front pager and all the media coverage that has followed it.
Compare coverage of his hockey team with any serious political story of the past couple of months.
- srbp -