Stephen Harper On Wolf Blitzer's 'The Situation Room'

A very good performance, I think. I was most impressed by his tactfully implicit threat to Obama about the 'Buy American' clause of their porkulus package - a clause that is gone but definitely not forgotten. Also, Harper hit the point about the potential costs of protectionism for the global economy quite well when he said that there is no surer way to turn a recession into a depression than to pursue protectionism given our current state of financial affairs.

All in all, he earned an 'A-' grade. The minus is in there because I'm still a little sore with him over the budget. Only time will heal that wound.



Exit Question: Is it absolutely crucial that he begins every goddamn sentence with "Well, look..."?

H/t Lance

Harper Won't Push Obama To Visit The Great White North First

Does anybody else smell a fresh new angle for the Canadian left?

"Oh! Harper hates Obama and won't even set aside his scary hidden agenda to have a friendly meeting with The One, our closest ally, before he goes to stupid Mexico or something. Obviously, Harper is still the enemy of Hope and Change and Christmas and Puppies. Harper still equals Bush!"

Story from CTV:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper won't be pushing his newly elected American counterpart to make Canada his first foreign stop, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Kory Teneycke says Harper doesn't have to be best friends with Barack Obama to have a strong professional relationship with the president-elect.

After all that campaign talk about revisiting NAFTA, I'm not too jazzed about the guy popping over for a visit either. I don't blame the Prime Minister for wanting to put it off as long as possible.