[BRIEF NOTE] "They have one, we want one, too!"

[rfmcdonald]

This story (Royson James, "Liberal senator likes Clemons' 'politics of hope'") made it to the front page of today's Sunday Star.

As Canadians avoid the voting booth and look covetously at an exciting U.S. presidential election, political parties here search for the transformational figure that might rouse the electorate from stupor.

Is there an Obama-like figure out there as the federal Liberals seek a replacement for Stéphane Dion? Is one being groomed? Are there candidates not yet in the political pipeline? Or some little-known Palin-esque figure?

Party rules almost guarantee the next Liberal leader will come from the pool of politicos we've seen and heard and tuned out – except young Justin Trudeau, a long shot.

But there must be possibilities – people who might rally young and old, rich and poor, Liberal and Conservative to get enthused about service to one's country, province or city.

People like one Michael (Pinball) Clemons, CEO of the Toronto Argonauts football team, and the effervescent former star football player with the million-dollar smile and irrepressible personality.

Though he's forever running late, sidestepping a killer schedule that would trip up less elusive targets, Clemons doesn't run through airports. Too many people want to stop and chat, pose for pictures, have him touch their child, tell him they love him, preen over him like a baby brother.

[. . .]

Richard Morris, manager of the city's energy efficiency office and a friend, says while Clemons is a grassroots kind of guy, it's the country, not just the city, that needs him.

"His influence is global. This guy could ... listen, Barack Obama has nothing on Mike Clemons, as far as I am concerned," says Morris who's helped politicians organize in the same Chicago precincts where the U.S. presidential hopeful Obama cut his political teeth.

"Mike's about hope, just like Obama. He needs some federal office to lead us to a broader horizon."

Liberal Senator Jerry Grafstein, always looking for fresh political blood, has taken note of Clemons.

"He's made a couple of extraordinary speeches to large audiences and people have been mesmerized by him," the senator says.

Notwithstanding the obvious positive attributes of Pinball Clemens, am I alone in thinking that maybe, just maybe, James is trying to draw too direct a parallel between American and Canadian plitics and is revealing a certain Canadian nationalist bend to boot? Discuss.