Roundup: Obama and his populist rant

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So, that speech by Barack Obama was quite something. Canada tends not to be a country of lofty rhetoric or grand and eloquent speechmaking, so it’s nice when we get to borrow it for a bit, but it is a bit of novelty. For all of his complementary rhetoric about Canadians and our progressivity, it was interesting to note the places where people in the Commons weren’t all unanimous with the applause (mentions of climate change and LGBT rights certainly didn’t endear the Conservatives), and he was very clever in the way he couched his criticism of Canada needing to do more to pull its weight with NATO, by timing it so that the applause had already started with is line about the great job that the Canadian Forces do when he finished the thought that the world wants them to do more. Clever that.

What was perhaps even more interesting and less rehearsed was the rant that Obama went off at the conclusion of the Three Amigos summit press conference, where he pushed back against the use of “populism” when it comes to the likes of Trump, Sanders, and the Brexit vote. While Obama was quick to paint Trump in particular with the terms of nativism and xenophobia, I’m not sure that he really addressed the core of the issue with the rise in populist sentiment that gets hijacked by those nativist and xenophobic elements. Why? Because he was quick to try and associate populism with only the positive benefits of helping the working classes to better themselves, and on the face of it, “populism” is about appealing to ordinary people. The problem is that it has a dangerous flipside about making that appeal in contravention to expert opinion and evidence, which is painted as elitist – something that Obama steered clear of. Meanwhile, populism has already overtaken the political discourse in Canada, when our one-time ideological parties on both the left and the right have abandoned their ideologies in favour of left and right-flavoured populism, eschewing that evidence or clear-eyed policy in favour of selling it to ordinary people, never mind that it would actually disproportionately benefit the wealthy (and yes, that applies equally to Conservative and NDP policy in Canada). When that ethos of casting off evidence and expert opinion reaches dangerous levels, you get the kinds of rhetoric you heard in the Brexit campaign, and with Trump and his supporters, but it’s on the same populist road. So you will forgive me if I don’t subscribe to Obama’s embrace of populism as solely a force for good. It has a dark side that needs to be acknowledged, lest it get as out of control as it clearly has been doing of late.

Good reads:

  • The Three Amigos summit ended on messages of clean energy, free trade, and a united front against rising anti-immigration sentiments.
  • Among Canada-US talks, peacekeeping seems to have replaced pipelines as the major topic of discussion.
  • Here’s a look back at previous presidential addresses to Parliament.
  • Michelle Rempel continues to push back against the decision to lift visa restrictions on Mexico.
  • Commons committees got a boost to their travel funds (but not as much as requested). Cue the MPs who think that videoconferences are the answer!
  • In case you’d forgotten, Andrew Scheer is also considering running for Conservative leadership, because of course he is.
  • A former Liberal official who once headed the Federal Bridge Corporation has been charged for being involved in a kickback scheme.
  • Paul Wells notes the similarities between the Harper and Trudeau governments when it comes to the issue of Ukraine.
  • Andrew Coyne looks at the ways in which the Brexit referendum and a Quebec succession referendum are and are not the same.
  • Terry Glavin wants to remind Canadians that they have it pretty good.

Odds and ends:

Andrew Potter offers some thoughts regarding the government’s examination of the threat facing news media outlets in Canada.

The Liberal Party has settled with former leadership candidate David Bertschi on blocking his nomination in the last election.