October 27, 2005--My Kind Of Town, Quebec Is
How many of you have been keeping track of the campaign for the leadership of Quebec's separatist party, Parti Quebecois? I'm not ashamed to admit that it has not been much on my screen lately. I've been more involved with Harriet Miers and the Court and Michael Jackson in Bahrain. But then there was this intriguing piece in the NY Times that jumped the situation in Quebec to the top of my list (see article linked below).
The leading candidate is Andre Boisclair, a 39 year old gay guy who is the odds on favorite to win. His open gayness is not that much of an issue. There is much more that is unusual about his candidacy. There was a widely published report about his “lively” night life that included excessive drinking and cocaine use—how he spent “wild weekends at the end of which you can’t recall where you left your rented car.” Though at first M. Boisclair refused to comment, he did quickly come around to acknowledging his cocaine use.
To Americans, where certain well-known candidates needed to claim that they never inhaled, it is remarkable that he not only did not need to beg tearfully for forgiveness or withdraw from the race, but actually saw his poll numbers soar—up to 70 percent saying his cocaine use was not an issue.
Contemplating the meaning of this phenomenon, a former Quebec cabinet member suggested that Quebecers like heroes who are “a little bit cheeky, defeatist, hesitant, unsure of themselves, alcoholic, a little bit fraudulent, or even a little drugged. We like to say they are like us.”
Boisclair’s opponents don’t quite know what to do. His closet rival, eager to gain the benefit that having a similar past might do for her, stepped forward to acknowledge that she smoked marijuana once--as a teenager, but didn’t enjoy it. Perhaps it was because it was only once and she didn’t like it that her poll numbers didn’t go up all that much!
I wonder about the direction in which leaders of this sort might lead us?
We already have leaders who are cheeky, alcoholic, and a little bit fraudulent. Some have even claimed that we have a President who appeared a little medicated recently, when the pressure on him was unusually intense.
But I could also go for an occasional feeling of hesitation--some times when our leaders would be a little unsure of themselves. Certainty and consistency are not always leadership virtues.
I could even go along with a little inhaling.
The leading candidate is Andre Boisclair, a 39 year old gay guy who is the odds on favorite to win. His open gayness is not that much of an issue. There is much more that is unusual about his candidacy. There was a widely published report about his “lively” night life that included excessive drinking and cocaine use—how he spent “wild weekends at the end of which you can’t recall where you left your rented car.” Though at first M. Boisclair refused to comment, he did quickly come around to acknowledging his cocaine use.
To Americans, where certain well-known candidates needed to claim that they never inhaled, it is remarkable that he not only did not need to beg tearfully for forgiveness or withdraw from the race, but actually saw his poll numbers soar—up to 70 percent saying his cocaine use was not an issue.
Contemplating the meaning of this phenomenon, a former Quebec cabinet member suggested that Quebecers like heroes who are “a little bit cheeky, defeatist, hesitant, unsure of themselves, alcoholic, a little bit fraudulent, or even a little drugged. We like to say they are like us.”
Boisclair’s opponents don’t quite know what to do. His closet rival, eager to gain the benefit that having a similar past might do for her, stepped forward to acknowledge that she smoked marijuana once--as a teenager, but didn’t enjoy it. Perhaps it was because it was only once and she didn’t like it that her poll numbers didn’t go up all that much!
I wonder about the direction in which leaders of this sort might lead us?
We already have leaders who are cheeky, alcoholic, and a little bit fraudulent. Some have even claimed that we have a President who appeared a little medicated recently, when the pressure on him was unusually intense.
But I could also go for an occasional feeling of hesitation--some times when our leaders would be a little unsure of themselves. Certainty and consistency are not always leadership virtues.
I could even go along with a little inhaling.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
2:29 PM
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