C'est l'un des nôtres

From rat to Kutuzov, Dion's come a long way. It's hard to explain humour, especially one so full of cultural references as this one, but let me try. When the Liberals were abstaining on votes, contrary to Dion's instincts, he justified the strategy by comparing the strategy to that Kutuzov vs. Napolean: a scorched earth tactical retreat so as to bring Harper onto a battlefield at a time & place of Liberals' choosing, where they might better defeat him. Quebec journalists didn't rule the strategy out of hand, but they were skeptical. When Harper broke the election law and effectively chose the battlefield that best suited himself, and the Liberals lost, there was much mild melancolic mockery of Dion's Kutuzov comparison, in the tone of, "poor misguided fellow, how could he ever thought he could be right?"

Now, it seems, precisely through their apparent weakness, linked to the supposed weakness of Dion, the Liberals have trapped Harper on the battlefield that most suits them. Now, it seems that Field Marshal Dion might have been on to something after all. "Le gouvernment Harper pourrait tomber" : the Harper Government Could Fall.

But that's incredible, in all senses. How can it be? I mean, Dion is this uncharismatic, stubborn nerd, according to conventional wisdom. Look how silly he looks, dressed as Kutuzov, in the snows outside Moscow. But there he is, chuckling to himself: "Enfin mon heure est arrivée! Hé! Hé! Hé!" - At last my hour has come! Ha! Ha! Ha! (but hé implies a kind of tough, sinister even, throaty laugh - I don't know if there's an English equivalent).

So the humour derives from this fantastic (all senses) situation, Dion the nerd as victorious tough stoical Russian general, Harper on the run, & Dion laughing to himself, against all the odds. It's all so incrongruous. But it also depends on the reader knowing Dion's backstory.

First he was this nerdy university professor showing up on TV to argue for Canada. Tight ass nerd who always irritatingly had all empirical arguments at hand and on his side. Then, would you believe it, the guy becomes even more of a "traitor" by joining Chrétien the Devil's cabinet and fighting for Canada. He keeps saying things that every member of the QC elite knows but never says out loud, about the false premises of separatists' arguments, the reality of international law, the advantages of Canada. I mean, really, how inconvenient how can you be? That's when Chapleau started drawing him as a rat. But when he was dropped from cabinet and fought & won to retain his riding against an organisation set up by Rodriguez & others, Iggyphiles now, he got some respect. We knew he was tough intellectually, but who knew he was tough politically?

Then he came back into cabinet as environment minister and did a good job, even securing a UN agreement in Montreal against all the odds. That's when the whiskers started to disappear: he's a much better guy than we caricatured him. OK, he's a federalist, but all those things we hated about him turned out to be pretty great when he's working for something we agree with. And he's a consensus builder: who knew?

Then he ran for the leadership and Le Devoir famously commented on his kickoff by saying "even Dion is running". I mean, how crazy is that? Better guy than we gave him credit for, but eccentric. Obviously has no chance. But then he gained support and the QC media were incredulous & respect increased: could this oddball really win? And when he won, they had to admit he had proved them wrong. He was a lot better at all aspects of politics, and a better, more rounded man, than suspected. But still, he has little chance of winning. Dion, PM? C'mon.

So he was mocked, more gently and even sympathetically, as the media knew he was getting kneecapped by Iggy's QC supporters on a daily basis, who were more than willing to feed them anything that could undermine Dion. OK, it's clear he's not really up to it, poor nerd. Pity, really, because we agree with his platform and he's a respectful man and he won the debates, but what do you want? He's not really a leader, is he? I mean, comparing himself to Kutuzov: what's he thinking?

And now, would you believe it, he might just show them they were wrong again.

Some time after he won the leadership, something changed for Dion in QC. Much of the elite and the public will never agree with his proud federalism. But having seen & heard the man, seen him be stoical when under unfair attack from within & without, having read his platform, it became clear: C'est l'un des nôtres - He's one of us. In a minority society like QC, it's the most important qualification possible. I would say there is even a not-so-grudging affection for the little bastard, now. I'd say it was confirmed sometimes between his appearance on the most popular talk show, Tout le monde en parle, the debates, & CTV's bigoted language attack. You know, people said to themselves, he may be a bull-headed, hard-assed, tough stoical gentlemanly federalist nerd, but he's OUR bull-headed, hard-assed, tough stoical gentlemanly federalist nerd!

And as know, we Liberals increased our vote & ridings in QC, against all predictions. "Stéphane Dion, après tout, c'est l'un des nôtres."

So this caricature is hilarious, not just because of the obvious contradiction between Dion the nerd actually becoming Kutuzov, but the incredulity behind the image. Throughout his career as a public personality, people have asked themselves: Who does he think he is? Doesn't he know how rude/stupid/wrong/silly/unpopular he is? Doesn't he know he's useless/beaten? How can he keep going? How dare he? And yet, again and again, there he is at the end, the winner, the big nerd who could. I mean, would you believe it? It's too impossible. And yet it's true. Ah, our Stéphane - he's quite a character, eh?

Stéphane Dion just doesn't know when he's beaten. He never has. Because if you stay true to yourself, to your ideas & your ideals, you can lose a battle or two, but you can never be beaten. That's Stéphane Dion. Never bet against him.