Advertisement

Politicians should stop trying to be comedians

Call me a bore if you will; some might even say that I'm somewhat prudish — I'm ready for it.

But, I'm getting tired of our politicians pandering for cheap laughs like desperate comedians.

If you missed it last week, Alberta's Liberals released a parody video starring their leader leader Raj Sherman in a paradoy of Psy's Gangnam Style.

I'll admit that I enjoyed the video and I might actually invite Sherman to my Christmas party next weekend. But does it make anyone want to vote Alberta Liberal in the next election?

Sherman is the leader of the province's third party so maybe we can let it go.

But how about Alberta Premier Alison Redford going on CBC's This hour has 22 minutes and joking about how she's going to spend Christmas having a scotch with her friends from the oil and gas industry talking about how to relax environmental regulations.

[ Related: Justin Trudeau would rather fight 100 duck-sized horses than 1 horse-sized duck ]

"Looks like another mild winter, you're welcome Canada," she quips in the episode to air on Tuesday.

And, also last week, the Prime Minister of Australia — the leader of the 12th largest economy in the world — took to Australian airwaves pretending that the end of the world was nigh.

It seems that politicians around the world are doing more and more of these types of populist comedy skits as a means to 'connect' with the voters who don't necessarily watch the evening news.

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were fixtures on the talk show circuit.

In 2006, in Canada, we were forced to watch interim Liberal MP Bob Rae go skinny dipping with Rick Mercer.

I realize that it's kind of all-in-fun, but I'm not sure I want to see my politicians partake in such antics. It certainly doesn't make me respect them any more.

[ More Political Points: Tories won't allow the Christmas spirit to be 'grinched' ]

Why can't today's politicos be like the politicians of yesteryear? Why can't they be stoic, prim and proper like they appeared to be in the 60s, 70s and 80s?

Back then, at least, we didn't need Margaret Thatcher or John Diefenbaker doing Gagnam Style in order to 'connect.'