Rob Ford’s Checkers speech

MONTREAL—Since Rob Ford confirmed allegations of extensive drug and alcohol abuse on Nov. 5, the media and Toronto’s political establishment have piled on. Political eulogies and calls for his resignation have come from all corners. Yet despite this and other admissions to drug use, involvement with shady characters like Alexander Lisi, and Ford’s mishandling of the response to the recent ice storm, the man is still in power. In fact, since the media onslaught and Ford’s admission to misbehaviour, his polling numbers have actually improved. By dismissing Ford as an incompetent, ignorant buffoon and “Ford Nation’s” agenda as unrepresentative of the “real” Toronto, the political establishment has actually reinforced his support by unintentionally appealing to the sympathy of Toronto voters. Rob Ford is far from the first politician to benefit from this sympathy effect. On Sept. 18, 1952, the New York Post revealed that Richard Nixon, then the Republican vice-presidential candidate, had a secretive campaign fund paid for by Southern Californian businessmen. While nothing about this was illegal, the media and political opposition hounded Nixon, and Republican presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower considered dropping Nixon from the ticket. What he did next remains a legend in American political history. Three days later, Nixon went on national television, and for a half-hour, bared his soul. He denied any wrongdoing and catalogued his assets and debts to the public, including his aging car, his mortgaged houses and the money he owed to his parents. Included in this was a cocker spaniel puppy sent by a supporter from Texas, which Nixon’s daughter had christened “Checkers.” While the liberal establishment and media continued to decry Nixon, calling the “Checkers speech” a hustle and cheap theatrics, the public loved it. Over two million telegrams poured in to Eisenhower’s headquarters, with over 99 per cent of them demanding that Nixon be kept on the ticket. The common man sympathized with Nixon, identified with his financial and material struggles, feared the same things that he did. The left had long seen themselves as “tribunes of the people,” from fighting for labour rights to the New Deal; now Nixon held that role, and it infuriated them. It has since become a motif on the left to hate Nixon and his brand of right-wing populism. This would last for Nixon’s entire political career. According to Rick Perlstein’s seminal book Nixonland, for his political base in the white middle class, every attack on Nixon by a liberal “egghead” was felt as an attack on his voters, pushing them to cling to the man even tighter. There is much the same effect with Rob Ford. The more members of the city’s political establishment, like Adam Vaughn and Karen Stinz, attack him and the more The Toronto Star chronicles his every misdemeanour, the tighter Ford Nation will circle their wagons around their man. For the people of the inner suburbs and working-class neighbourhoods that overwhelmingly voted for Ford in 2010, the mayor embodies them. More than being concerned about high taxes and transit planning that many see as leaving their life s in the lurch, Ford Nation loves Rob Ford because of who he is. He rejects the old dichotomy of city politics, the endless battle between the wealthy, cosmopolitan right and the wealthy, cosmopolitan left. While Ford may cut programs that people like and have a less-than-clean personal life, he seems to actually care about his constituents, answering their calls and personally attending to their needs, rather than staying ensconced in an aloof bubble of sophistication and privilege. If the city’s establishment wants to drive Ford back onto his Etobicoke estate, they will need to do three things. First, they need to lay off Rob Ford himself. Left to his own devices, the man is a walking gaffe machine. Still, another series of scandals may do nothing if the members of Ford’s coalition do not see anywhere else to go. The city’s left needs to rediscover populism and find a way to appeal to people from outside of the downtown core. Policies that take into consideration the worries of a middle and working class that see the city’s rapid development passing them by should be a cornerstone of any challenger’s platform. This should be combined with a strong push to sell a progressive agenda rather than expecting it to sell itself. Failure to do this could mean another four long years of a man standing in front of a figurative train, yelling for it to stop. Alexander Langer is a student of political science and history at McGill University. He is also the founder and managing editor of the McGill International Review Online. Tshweu Moleme is a South Africa analyst with the BRICS Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs. He is also a Writer for McGill International Review Online. news@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

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Rob Ford’s Checkers speech

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