One last thing before I change my focus to the US election :-)

[alcina]

If the campaign managers I worked with -- long-time NDP strategists, according to their own promos -- are at all representative of the NDP's collection of CMs, then the NDP is being seriously damaged by mediocrity and possibly flat-out incompetence.

In another thread (http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1087&pid=5263), the following comment was made:

It looks like the Federal NDP campaign team is scheming to give the victory to the Conservatives in the same manner as what the British Columbia NDP team did for the Liberals.

I honestly don't think anyone was scheming here, neither locally nor federally. But just based on my experience in my local campaign and watching some of the bizarreness of the federal campaign, I think the Peter Principle is in full play with NDP campaign staff. Locally -- disorganization, inefficiency, constantly reacting rather than planning ahead, insistence on doing things "the way we did it the last time," and -- god help me -- paper, paper, paper. It was as if the campaign manager had never heard of computers. This last fact resulted in information constantly being misplaced, causing staff to have to repeat -- sometimes multiple times -- the same work. Totally blinkered.

Toward the end, I couldn't help but wonder if these people were somehow descended from the Golgafrincham B Ark....

[Spazito]

1. I was surprised at how disorganized the campaign and some of the candidates were...

The candidate in my riding was very unprepared, made a very poor showing at the all candidates forum. At the national level, the campaign did seem to be reactive instead of staying on message.

[CanSocDem]

2. Well said...!!

I felt that "mediocrity" at play back when we lost the province to Brad Wall. It should have been an easy win but it was if they couldn't be bothered promoting their long history of public service.

I saw it again last night when all the other dedicated volunteers decided to sit this one out and I found myself as the "campaign representative", the "inside scrutineer", and the driver to take long time supporters to the polls, of which there were four that I was scrutinizing. I had a snippy harperite woman working as a poll clerk tell me that I had no right to see the names of people who were registering at the time of voting. I called the campaign office for support and they didn't get back to me.

This same nasty woman dragged out her closing duties that she was doing, for an hour and a half after the polls closed. My final words to her were along the lines of "I will never trust the accuracy of this poll...." and then I went home with another candidates rep.'s count.

When I tried to call my numbers in, the "mailbox" was full.....so I flipped the channel from the BlueJay game to the news and found that our local votes wouldn't have mattered. They still haven't called for them.

But...in fairness we got what we want. Anybody But Conservative!!

The stupidity, not only of my province, but of my community for believing the Harper lies is almost unbearable. That we are the birthplace of social democracy in North America and can't find support is killing me.

[alcina]

6. "We got what we want"

This might be a case of be careful what you wish for.

Regarding the "nasty woman" -- I had one of those as well. The DRO at one of my polls was clearly Liberal and relishing the victory. Every time she counted a ballot for her candidate, she'd giggle and sing out, "Oooh. Another vote for ...."

It was a long night. But it's over, and it's time to move on.

BERNIE SANDERS 2016!!!!

[Saviolo]

3. That seems like it was a big factor

in a complicated collapse of the NDP party. They started so strong, but Trudea and his team really just positioned themselves as the rational alternative to remove Harper and not split the vote.

Naomi Klein really succinctly summed it up in three tweets:

Let's get real: #elxn42 was way more about sober Harperphobia than giddy Trudeaumania.

1. @ThomasMulcair was the ultimate "strategic" campaigner. Everything was calculated. He was undone by voters acting the same. #Elxn42

2. What we have see is that passion inspires passion -- and strategic leaders inspire strategic voters #Elxn42

Links:
https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/status/656322659161010181
https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/status/656328187916324864
https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/status/656328453990412288

In the end it became about who was the surest shot to get rid of Harper, and the Liberals just positioned themselves better. Mulcair had some successes, certainly. I think the NDP campaign succeeded in pulling the Liberals to the left on a couple of issues, while the Liberals pulled the NDP a bit to the right on a couple.

My feelings today on the outcome are... complicated.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

4. It'll depend on how they approach the job over the long term.

If this batch of Liberals are willing to pay attention to the people's concerns and adapt their agenda accordingly (not something Canadian politicians of any sort are known for, but I'm willing to give them a chance), then we'll be able to pull them into a position where they'll achieve some real good. Our role as citizens is to keep the performance reviews flowing.

And hey, look at the Americans; Obama himself isn't all that liberal, especially by our standards, but by getting people thinking and talking, he's opened the door for some real improvements down the line. Maybe this new Trudeau administration will give us a similar breather.

[alcina]

5. Good observations by Klein

Though I think the Trudeaumania effect was greater than she suggests. Honestly, do you think Bob Rae or Michael Ignatieff delivering the same lines would have pulled as many votes from the NDP? At the very least, I think some of the NDP MPs in safe ridings would have held their seats. The fact that the Liberal party had flashy new packaging went a long way.

I found this other -- much less pithy -- critique quite interesting. I don't agree with some of it, but I think the author makes good points. I particularly like these two paragraphs:

The Liberals won on the basis of an anti-austerity vote, but they are not an anti-austerity party. They will follow the tactic of the Ontario Liberals, who won by campaigning left to undercut the Ontario NDP, and now are implementing privatization and cuts. Justin’s “stimulus” is based on public-private-partnerships and privatization. He will sign the TPP, which will undermine Canadian manufacturing, and Bill C-51, which will undermine civil liberties. Sooner or later this reality will come as a shock to those who voted Liberal.

Trudeau will likely have a honeymoon period of a year or so. The reversal of the most egregious elements of the Harper regime will likely be very popular, as well as fresh faces after a decade of snarling reactionary, “old-stock”, Conservatives. But sooner or later political and economic reality will predominate. Near the end of the campaign it became clear that the old Liberal Party - the party of the sponsorship scandal and corporate lobbyists - is still alive and well. In the final days of the election Trudeau’s campaign co-chair Dan Gagnier was forced to resign after it emerged he sent a detailed email to TransCanada Corp., the organization behind the Energy East pipeline, with advice on how and when to lobby a new government. The old-boys club is now back at the public trough.

http://www.marxist.ca/canada/federal/1058-2015-canadian-election-conservative-austerity-rejected-ndp-humiliated.html

[CanSocDem]

7. One more word from me...

...before we go shoulder-to-shoulder into the global fight for social democracy.

What I did notice at our planning meeting was that our core supporters are grey-haired boomers who have a fundamental understanding of the difference between private and public ownership. They have personal experience with concepts like social justice and economic equality. They think these values are so self-evident and necessary in civilized society that they don't have to be promoted.

I think we have to 'get back to the basics' with this born after, entitled, generation.

They don't get that were it not for the long historical commitment to the public interest, they would not have gotten to 3rd base. They think they 'hit a triple' (pardon the baseball metaphor) and this gives them the confidence to take pride in personal achievement over the community interest.

Just writing this makes me aware of how much I despise these mindless fucks....


.

[alcina]

8. There are, indeed, days I can relate to your last sentence

The folks at the campaign I worked on were all ages. Some older radicals, some middle-age socially aware pragmatists, and a few hardworking 20-somethings who were impressively knowledgeable about politics and history. This younger group, in fact, probably worked harder than most of the others.

But as a stereotype, I'd have to agree that that age group presents as spoiled and superficial. I have some friends in that range and even they make fun of their cohorts. On the rather depressing side of it, of the four I know pretty well, all but one figures they'll die poor and quite probably violently as a result of the direction society is moving. They also feel there's nothing they can do about it, so they ignore it and try to enjoy the moment because -- in their own words -- "YOLO!" (I hate myself for even typing that.)

And now for your enjoyment (or horror): The Debaters: When the Millennials take over, are we all doomed?

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/player.html?autoPlay=true&clipIds=2675479672