We should stay away from the Bush bandwagon (McQuaig / Toronto Star)

[struggle4progress]

<snip> Presumably that's why we're sending Frank McKenna to Washington as our next ambassador. McKenna is already partly inside the tent. As an advisory board member of the powerful Carlyle investment group, McKenna got to know influential Republicans on the board, including former U.S. president George Bush. McKenna even famously played golf with the elder Bush.

Having McKenna in Washington may win us more invitations and Bush family golf dates, but that will do little to protect our Canadian interests. Just as likely McKenna will get closer to his Republican hosts, becoming more their advocate in Ottawa than ours in Washington.

The naive notion that cozying up to the White House advances Canadian interests has been cultivated by supporters of former prime minister Brian Mulroney. They insist that Mulroney's coziness with U.S. president Ronald Reagan paved the way for our free trade deals. But those deals were more a U.S. than Canadian triumph; Canada failed to win guaranteed access to the U.S. market, while the Americans did win guaranteed access to our energy.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dogged loyalty to Bush over Iraq has won him little more than the nickname "Poodle." Blair's loyalty didn't even protect British steel exports from punishing U.S. tariffs. Bush's only concession to Blair seems to be the repatriation of British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps in the ghastly Bush era, this is the only concession a country can hope to win from the U.S. — a torture reprieve for its citizens. <snip>

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106435409152&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

[dreamcollector]

1. It would be political suicide

Canadians hate him too much. No fear.