Canadian prime ministers are more powerful within our system than U.S. presidents are within theirs, but seldom, if ever, has the contrast been greater.
Stephen Harper controls everything in his government, except for the occasional disturbances of a minority House of Commons and a reluctant Senate. He has centralized power even beyond the efforts of his predecessors, insisting that not only every file but also the minutiae of the file be cleared by him.
Barack Obama, by contrast, influences much but controls nothing. Each piece of his astonishingly ambitious agenda is being chewed up and changed by Congress, where his biggest challenges come not from the opposition Republicans, who are predictably against everything he suggests, but from fellow Democrats.
The stimulus package, health care, financial regulation, climate change – you name it and Congress has or had legislative control, even though Canadians might think a president most of them admire is directing traffic.
Mr. Obama is directing traffic, in the sense of a police officer standing at an intersection without lights. Drivers might or might not pay attention to the officer's instructions; and they will go at the speed they choose within the limits of safety. The result isn't chaos, but it isn't orderly, either.
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