Is Alison Redford 'Stelmach, the sequel'?

[crazy_eoj]

National Post article today where political science prof David Taras says that Redford is moving towards becoming the sequel of the past premier Ed Stelmach.

It seemed that would be a tough comparison. I mean, Stelmach was a terrible public speaker and came across as indecisive and incredibly poor leader. Redford has a much stronger educational background, but her inability to deal effectively with several negative issues quickly has Taras calling her "unprepared, unable to command facts, and performing poorly." Barry Cooper from UofC says she isn't a leader in any normal sense of the word.

Whether she really is as bad as Stelmach or not, you have to admit the comparison alone is extremely unflattering.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12...itical-career/

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

National Post article today where political science prof David Taras says that Redford is moving towards becoming the sequel of the past premier Ed Stelmach.

It seemed that would be a tough comparison. I mean, Stelmach was a terrible public speaker and came across as indecisive and incredibly poor leader. Redford has a much stronger educational background, but her inability to deal effectively with several negative issues quickly has Taras calling her "unprepared, unable to command facts, and performing poorly." Barry Cooper from UofC says she isn't a leader in any normal sense of the word.

Whether she really is as bad as Stelmach or not, you have to admit the comparison alone is extremely unflattering.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12...itical-career/

There are some similarities in the way they came to power, being "everyone's second choice" isn't a ringing endorsement. I don't think she's an especially dynamic leader, and doesn't appear able to drive the agenda in any meaningful way.

[CaptainCrunch]

She's a brutal public speaker, she was awful in the election debate and came across as angry and shrill and she didn't have great emotional control.

I'm just amazed that a person with her level of education and experience has either a low opinion of the intelligence of the people that she serves or is just plain dumb

And to me Ed looks a lot more honest and naive and she just looks to be fairly corrupt or not in control of her party.

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

She's a brutal public speaker, she was awful in the election debate and came across as angry and shrill and she didn't have great emotional control.

And to me Ed looks a lot more honest and naive and she just looks to be fairly corrupt or not in control of her party.

Maybe, but shes not Danielle Smith so she still gets my vote. Better her then a party whose affiliated with the Alberta for Separation party or whatever it was called.

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

"I'm just amazed that a person with her level of education and experience has either a low opinion of the intelligence of the people that she serves or is just plain dumb"

I don't understand where this is coming from

[Northendzone]

i can say i have not warmed up to her very much - maybe it is hard to get excited about anyone ssince we still recall living in Ralph's World......

As an aswide, what kind of experiments does a political scientist do? Does he mix Redford and Smith in a blender and then see what comes out?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Kavy

Maybe, but shes not Danielle Smith so she still gets my vote. Better her then a party whose affiliated with the Alberta for Separation party or whatever it was called.

Chances are in the next election I will follow a strategy of abpc (anyone but PC) I am doubly disgusted by this government and by my MP. I will probably vote for the MP that appeals to me and not strategically vote for a party.

I don't understand where this is coming from

Her continued use of the whole I didn't know or I don't think its important has gotten to the point of insulting.

She either has a low opinion of the voters in the province, or she doesn't know because she's a moron with no control.

[The Yen Man]

I didn't think it was possible, but she seems even worse than Stelmach to me. At least with Stelmach, he didn't seem to be hiding anything. He was just incompetent. Redford looks corrupt from the beginning, and my suspicions are that she'll take every chance she can to milk Alberta and the taxpayers as much as possible just to line her own pockets.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I didn't think it was possible, but she seems even worse than Stelmach to me. At least with Stelmach, he didn't seem to be hiding anything. He was just incompetent. Redford looks corrupt from the beginning, and my suspicions are that she'll take every chance she can to milk Alberta and the taxpayers as much as possible just to line her own pockets.

Her and Stelmach are both bad at their job, but at least with Stelmach it felt like he was trying and had good intentions.

[crazy_eoj]

[QUOTE=Kavy;3961487]Maybe, but shes not Danielle Smith so she still gets my vote. Better her then a party whose affiliated with the Alberta for Separation party or whatever it was called. [quote]

The PC party had a member who openly supported seperatism running for the leadership in only 2006....do you support their inclusion in the party?

[Knalus]

The Yen Man is correct.

Ed was honest, but easily led, and made poor decisions he felt (or was told) were the best ones for the province. He was just wrong frequently.

Our current premier was a smart, shrewd politician. Her method of gaining power by allying with the teachers union wasn't something a stupid person does. However, her motivations are less about what is good for the province, and not even what is best for her party, but what is best for her.

When you look at who she surrounds herself with - Denis and Lukaszuk in particular - these are not particularly honest people. She will be very good at obtaining her goals, but I feel we will suffer for it.

[EddyBeers]

It is hard to imagine who would have made it into Smith's Tea Party cabinet. For that reason alone, sadly, Redford is a better choice. A more corrupt one but a better one.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Our current premier was a smart, shrewd politician. Her method of gaining power by allying with the teachers union wasn't something a stupid person does. However, her motivations are less about what is good for the province, and not even what is best for her party, but what is best for her.

Note: I don't align myself with any party. My tendency in provincial elections is to vote PC, but I always vote along the lines of which politician closest aligns to my values.

I have similar sentiments. I won't go out and say that she is corrupt as of yet (small sample size), but the tendency seems to be there that Redford seems to be willing to do less than honest things to get her goals, whatever they may be, done. Her inability to win over crowds by being charismatic are just intensifying the views on her. The article notes that if these were allegations against Klein, he likely could have walked his way out of it.

I'm not sure Mar would have been a much better choice, and I'll give it more time, but Redford definitely needs to correct her public image quick. I can imagine Smith is telling her entire team to throw out any piece of dirt on Redford they can find now.

If this sort of gong show continues on for upwards towards a year, then I think it'd be good to call another leadership convention.

[Bertuzzied]

all that and she is still better than Danielle Smith. If the Wildrose was serious about leading the province they better punt her ass sooner rather than later.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

all that and she is still better than Danielle Smith. If the Wildrose was serious about leading the province they better punt her ass sooner rather than later.

Welcome to Alberta, where it seems "one party rule" can survive almost everything. Except Lougheed, Wood, and Aberhart.

[afc wimbledon]

I hate to sound chauvenistic but the longer I am in N America the better I like the British system where the MP's choose party leaders and ultimatly who is the Prime Minister, it may not be wholly democratic but it does tend to sift out the wheat from the chaffe better.

[MoneyGuy]

Not my fault. I voted for Horner.

[Dion]

Redford clearly doesn't have a clue what Albertans think of her and it clearly shows in the way she responds to accusations and scandals. The public poll of opinion should be more of a concern for her as she's losing that one badly. The longer she stays in power the more damage she will do to the party. I see the PC's have a real tough time winning the next election.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

all that and she is still better than Danielle Smith. If the Wildrose was serious about leading the province they better punt her ass sooner rather than later.

Or not.

The only reason why the Wildrose gained the way they did is because of her. Like their policies or not, she is charismatic and the reason why the party became relevant. If they are serious about forming government, they'd be wise to keep her around as leader.

Given how you usually post around here, I'd guess your assessment of her as a politician is merely jaded by your partisanship.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by mariners_fever

Given how you usually post around here, I'd guess your assessment of her as a politician is merely jaded by your partisanship.

Or maybe it's this: "We have always said the science isn't settled and we need to continue to monitor the debate." - Danielle Smith on climate change

If your solution to what is a major challenge to this province is to deny it, what ends up discredited is you.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

She is obviously a very smart person regardless of what CC thinks of her, I think that she has a few things working against her, the first being that Alberta's economy isn't what it was through no fault of Redfords, but rather because of an abundance of natural gas deposits in North America driving the cost down, which in turn limits Alberta's revenue streams. What Alberta needs is a way to get liquid natural gas to overseas markets, most notably Japan and S. Korea. Those are things that are easier said than done however and building a pipeline anywhere seems to be difficult to do in the current political climate (moreso with oil than natural gas I admit).

The other problem for Redford is that I think she is going to get sunk by her own party as I don't think her policies have the backing of a large part of the Caucus and that is why she appears out of the loop. She is a massive change from Stelmach and Klein (I argue for the better in some areas, worse in others) but the old boys club of the PCs is still pretty strongly entrenched in the workings of the party from what I can see as a political observer.

Past that this has been the first time that the PCs have experienced a true opposition in some time - and while I think that the Wildrose have acted like children with the theatrics I can't deny the effectiveness of those actions.