Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
Is it that much different than someone like Harper looking to take all the credit for why Canada hasn't suffered the same fate?
Politics is a game of here and now for a lot of the public even though the current economic situation is something created by the administration prior to Obama. Much like Harper has been helped by policies of previous governments in Canada, and high resource prices.
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I would say though there are some similarities, there are also some very important differences.
Stephen Harper has been PM since 2006. So basically he was PM for 2 years before the big economic problems of 2008. Not only that, but let's not forget that the PM has a lot more direct control over goverment policies than the President does.
Obama on the other hand only became president in Januray of 2009, after the big problems started to surface, and while the president certanily has a lot of power when it comes to directing government policy, he has no where near the direct control of the legislative branch that a Canadian PM does.
So blaming the guy who didn't assume power until the recession was underway, and who has no power to directly create legislation for the problems his country is facing, is actually quite a bit different than praising a guy who was in power 2 years prior to the recession, and has direct legislative control, for his country's success.
Certainly Obama isn't free of blame, and Harper isn't the sole reason for their countries respective problems and successes, but their roles in creating them and navigating them have been quite different.