Layton Borrows from Obama's playbook

Layton should avoid Obama like the plague. Obama's rhetoric is fraudulent for the most part. His foreign policy is aggressive U.S. imperialism or "hegemonic" to use the more common politically correct terminology nowadays. Has Layton not listened to what Obama has to say on Afghanistan? While Layton wants Canadians out, Obama will put in many more Americans.
Layton should realise too that Bush is far down in the polls while Harper is enjoying a lead over the Liberals. Many Canadians need to be convinced to vote against Harper and are not interested in change the way Americans are. Many Canadians seem so engrossed in watching the bread and circuses in the U.S. that they are not paying much attention to what Harper has been doing.
Layton is probably right to concentrate on attacking Harper. I wonder if there will be much movement towards strategic voting to try to block a Harper majority? Of course we must wait and see what happens in the polls. Hopefully Conservative support will erode significantly. However, even if the present levels remain a majority is not likely.

Layton borrows from Obama's election playbook
By: Jessica McDiarmid
Updated: September 5 at 07:12 AM CDT

TORONTO -- The federal New Democratic Party signalled Thursday that it will borrow from Barack Obama's playbook in its efforts to oust Prime Minister Stephen Harper from power.
The party has never been in a better position to fight a federal election and is boasting the best slate of candidates it's had in a long time, said leader Jack Layton as he rallied supporters in Toronto just days before an election call anticipated for Sunday morning.
For the first time in history, the party has a full budget to wage battle against the Conservatives -- about $18.3 million, the maximum amount allowed by Elections Canada -- Layton said.
NDP strategists said the focus of their campaign will be solely on replacing Harper, as opposed to other elections when multiple opponents were targeted. During his 24-minute speech on Thursday, Layton completely avoided mentioning Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.
Echoing some of Obama's speeches, Layton said his party's campaign will centre on "hope" and "change."
"It's really a vision of hope, it's a vision about change," said Layton. "It's a vision that says we can actually make a different choice than we've been making in the past."
Layton said he listened closely to Obama's speeches and there are many parallels between the situations of the two countries. He claimed the Democrats' environmental policy is "identical" to the NDP's.
"I think we're picking up on some of the energy we're seeing in the United States as well, and I think that could be kind of exciting," said Layton.
Layton met with the chief architect of Obama's successful bid for the Democratic nomination in the United States and the NDP's strategy runs parallel to -- rather than imitating -- Obama's, said campaign spokesman Brad Lavigne.
"Because of the American election, a lot of people are tuning in, they're getting excited about the potential winds of change, and what we want to do is we kind of want to piggyback on that, those winds of change," Lavigne said.
Layton also used his speech to list off a host of issues that he would address if he controlled the government, including public transit, doctor and nurse shortages, the environment and the listeriosis outbreak.
Sources have told The Canadian Press that Harper will officially launch the federal election campaign Sunday with a visit to the Governor General at 9 a.m. ET.
The election is expected to be held on Oct. 14.
--