New Political Landscape; New Tactics Required

So it would seem most pundits agree that the next election is probably a year or more away, and that we are -- for the first time in several years -- entering a stage in our political life where parties will focus on a longer term horizon. Yesterday's Power Play included pundits musing about how this would affect the tone of the House of Commons and whether some of the nastiness might subside.

In my October 3rd entry, I noted how if the combination of polls, Liberal infighting and an unexpected good showing in the by-elections might propel the Conservatives to become the "Natural Governing Party." These conditions have been met and I heard pundits talking about the Conservatives having "achieved a comfortable cruising speed in government." Even Craig Oliver was waxing eloquent of how the Conservatives have perfected the art of government spin such that previous governments look like amateurs.

Lawrence Martin this morning similarly points to Harper's craftiness. "The skill of the political leader lies in making the people feel good about what’s going on" Martin writes,going on to point out how things are really less good than they appear but Harper is winning the perception game. Yesterday I watched Question Period and it would seem the Liberals are utilizing the same strategy, making over the top allegations regarding the distribution of H1N1 vaccines, trying to make things appear as bad as they might be.

What to make of all of this? There is little doubt that the Prime Minister and his government are winning the perception of competence battle, as the polls confirm. For them, the trick is to remain scandal free and competent managers of the files that come up. Photo ops of the Prime Minister being well received on the international stage don't hurt either, although in truth, the government would prefer to stay out of the news.

For the opposition, an alternative narrative needs to be drawn. Where they can sully the competent image of the government, they need to but in reality, I would suspect they are better off waiting for the Conservative mistake rather than perpetually overblowing issues as they are the H1N1 crisis, lest they become ignored like the boy who cried wolf. The more significant challenge for the Liberals is to develop a new narrative and vision with which they can become identified with in the next election, remembering that their voter-accessible pool is a larger one than the Tories.

For those who watch politics, it is a new phase and set of tactics we get to watch for the next months. Different skills are required to play the long game than the short one, and it will be interesting to see how the different parties respond to the political landscape which has changed rather dramatically in the past year.