The ugliness of our politics

Last spring, I watched former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush chat on stage in downtown Toronto. At the time, I was impressed with the regard each had for the other, musing that I couldn't imagine two former Canadian leaders having such a respectful exchange in public.

Today, one of the participants in our MP exit interview project sent me this article from the Montreal Gazette that reminded me again how rare such exchanges often are. The Gazette argues that the "propoganda" of delegitimizing our political leaders - think Clinton as morally unfit, Bush as stupid, Harper as a fascist and Ignatieff as a snob - is damaging to all of us and to the ability of those in public life to advance anything meaningful.

According to the author of a new book on the President's Secret Service, death threats on Obama are up dramatically, to 30 per day. While political violence in Canada is relatively rare compared to our neighbours to the south, it's an important reminder of how unattractive we've made politics and how limiting that is for all of us.

Like many of you I'm sure, I've lost track of the number of people I've spoken to who are bright, engaged, passionate and want to make a difference to their communities and their country who simply could not imagine pursuing any of their ambitions through public life. This is really a shame. Thank you to the Gazette for the reminder that it's something we should all worry about and ideally work to change.