Liberal leader Mike Ignatieff has been coached in the art of speeches and interviews since his early days on the Liberal throne. Pundits used to joke about his obsessively frequent use of the word "I", but if you watched him one on one with Peter Mansbridge, you could not help but notice his generous use of the word "we". He has replaced his natural possessive word with another, and guaranteed that is coached. He is citing things that the Liberal Party did while he was living in London and Boston with the word "we" as though he was a part of it. I don't use the word "we" to describe something in which I did not participate. It is easy I suppose in that kind of interview, where Mansbridge not only tossed softballs, he was interjecting Liberal talking points into the conversation.
This is clearly part of an attempt to change the way Canadians generally feel about Iggy. Instead of being "me, me, me" substitute it with "we, we, we" and you should be more likable, in theory. The question is, in the world of politics do you really get a second chance to make a first impression? They are trying. I will personally continue to judge Ignatieff on how he votes in the House of Commons (when he's actually present to vote), and not based on his performance with a friendly journalist.
Of course the real risk is, if he uses it too much, "we" becomes "the royal 'we,'" and it's back to the ego problems again.
ReplyDeletemy thought as well. would that be the royal we.
ReplyDeleteI venture to say he would rather refer to himself as "my government" etc. lol
ReplyDeleteIgnatieff is in a political fight and so in that he wrestles for the strength and survival of reputaion. Those that work and fight to have appearances survive are often in the delusion of emotions and so delusion that the burdens they endure justify their decision to deny serving the adverse needs and rights of others.
ReplyDeleteOf course the msm probably won't see this as being worthy of mention, like say a guy wearing glasses.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of the interview where the coaching was really apparent was how many times he stated when I talked to Canadians.
You make a good point. Much is revealed and many votes are driven by pronoun usage. I once heard Harper say "us" and it looks a lot like "U.S.". It made me change my vote away from Harper. But now, with Ignatieff clearly signalling with prpnoun usage I will have to change my vote again. Politics is hard.
ReplyDeleteAll this tweaking of Iggy's message doesn't much matter. He is just not believable. And that is reflected by his low "trust" numbers, which have remained low for over a year now.
ReplyDeleteI just watched his interview with Craig Oliver, and it's just more of the same incoherence from the guy. In one breath he talks about keeping the stimulus spending going, and then he criticizes the "$54 billion" defecit, promising to get it down to 1 % of GDP (or somesuch).
He's got Donolo's talking points all memorized. Whooop-de-doo. But the guy is a lightweight, when it comes to understanding the federal files, ESPECIALLY the economic and financial ones.
He once jokingly admitted to a small group of Lib partisans that, like most Canadians, he doesn't have a clue how the equalization formula works. He's cleaned up that self-deprecating act somewhat, but not totally. But that kind of ignorance will come out during an election campaign. He better avoid getting interviewed on Business News Network, as those guys are no economic dummies like Craig, Jane, and others.
Ignatieff does not get it.
ReplyDeleteThe CBC has only a few shows in the Top 30 and the National is not one of them.
Like his tour preaching to the converted, this interview will be missed by the majority of Canadians for many reasons.
Dragon's Den, Wheel of Fortune,
http://bbm.ca/_documents/top_30_tv_programs_english/2010/nat09062010.pdf
''The question is, in the world of politics do you really get a second chance to make a first impression?''
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Iffy,
his first impression was good.
Ekos had Libs at 36.7 to Cons 30.2
''[Ottawa – April 15, 2009] Under their new leader, Michael Ignatieff, the federal Liberal Party has vaulted into first place in the race towards the next election, riding renewed strength across the country with the exception of Alberta...
then he started making decisions,
and reversing decisions,
reversing every decision he had made,
and flying to France every chance he got,
and napping in the afternoon,
and the dude proved himself a dud
and not PM material,
not even managerial material for a Tim Hortons
.....
After losing your good first impression,
there is no going back