The big news in Canada is, of course, the visit by George W. Bush — America’s 43rd president, and the first trained chimp to hold the office. In a speech to those in Halifax who weren’t actually marching in protest or burning him in effigy, he suggested that Canada should become more involved in his military actions in Iraq, offering the example of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s tenth prime minister of Canada. Quoting King, President Bush gave the somber advice, “To remain on the defensive is the surest way to bring the war to Canada.” I hope this was an opinion, and not an expression of US military policy.
It’s gratifying to know that the president’s speech writers have an awareness of Canadian history, but I think they might have skipped over these lines in the Wikipedia.com entry:
King hoped an outbreak of war in the 1930s could be avoided. He had met with Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler, whom he said was a reasonable man who cared for his fellow man, working to improve his country in the midst of the Depression. He confided in his diary that he thought Hitler “might come to be thought of as one of the saviours of the world” and told a Jewish delegation that “Kristallnacht might turn out to be a blessing.” *
His writers may also have missed the part where King consulted with the spirits of Leonardo DaVinci, his dead mother, and his dog.
But besides those particulars, the reference to King likely struck a chord with all patriotic Canadians, particularly those who channel the spirits of the dead. The art of public speaking, I think, is all about identifying with your audience.
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