Baranyai: World of difference between the woes of Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau

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A recent spate of commentary is drawing parallels between Canadian rumblings for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step aside as head of the Liberal Party, and calls for U.S. President Joe Biden to take himself off the Democratic ticket.

The comparison is inapt, but understandable. Both leaders have stated their intention to run again, and face queasy dissent within party ranks. Both are behind in the polls. In either country, the clock is ticking for voters to get to know another candidate ahead of the next federal election.

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“If you think Biden has troubles, just look at Trudeau,” Politico crowed, even before the president’s cataclysmal debate performance on June 27. Days later, The Conversation ran an article titled, Biden and Trudeau: Two leaders in trouble who are resisting calls to step aside. Similarly themed op-eds followed. An editorial cartoon by Patrick Corrigan depicts the two men hunched on stools, while Lucy Van Pelt dispenses her trademark five-cent advice: “C’mon, blockheads . . . get it together!!” The sign above Lucy’s booth reads, Democracy in Peril.

Despite a few common circumstances, the stakes on either side of the border are of vastly different magnitudes. It isn’t just comparing apples to oranges. It’s more like apples to flamethrowers.

The panic ignited by Biden’s unfocused debate performance was immediate and all-consuming. Post-debate analysts shook their dazed heads and talked about a Democratic successor, abandoning all pretense of spin.

Calls for Biden to step down revolve around his age and mental agility, but they are less about his ability to govern effectively than to keep a temperamentally unstable tyrant out of the Oval Office. By resisting calls to bow out, Biden ironically has made his fitness for the job a central campaign issue, yanking the spotlight away from his rival’s manifold failings.

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The situation in Canada is very different. Speculation about Trudeau’s future as party leader amped up after Conservatives won the Liberal enclave of Toronto-St. Paul’s. For the Liberals, it was a stinging loss. A potential change in leadership may be an existential question for Liberals to remain in power, but not for the very survival of our parliamentary democracy.

Like Biden, Trudeau has racked up a solid record of legislative achievements, and earned his share of detractors. At 52, his mental and physical fitness are not in question. Rumblings about a change in leadership are not about Trudeau’s competence to govern, nor his vigour on the campaign trail. His chief affliction is surviving the job.

There is a tendency among Canadians – and the press corps plays a role here – to eat our elder statesmen. We become disenchanted with anybody holding the top job for too long. We start to think of the prime minister not as experienced but stale, not dedicated to the job but hungry to hold power.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre shares that hunger, and holds a substantial lead in the polls. Voters may or may not be concerned by his flirtation with conspiracy theories and fringe extremists, or his tendency to attack journalists. None of it comes close to the drama unfolding south of the border. Nevertheless, Canadians deserve clear answers to hard questions, not facile comparisons.

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For 3 1/2 years, U.S. prosecutors and politicians have relied on each other to protect the presidency from falling back into the hands of a convicted felon and twice-indicted insurrectionist found liable for sexual abuse. If Biden stays on and can’t deliver, the republic may well implode.

Biden’s dilemma has captivated the world. It’s a great hook for a story on leadership, but not a solid foundation for tying Trudeau’s fortunes to an octogenarian president.

write.robin@baranyai.ca

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