I'm with you, Brian, in that attaching this much ceremonial and attention and indeed celebration to the Prime Minister (particularly the present one, but we don't need to go down that road) just does not compute.
Part of the contrast I believe is the difference between the two national cultures, the flag-waving rah-rah-rah in the US versus the more restrained introvert Canadian approach.
The other difference is that Mr Obama has just become a head of state, as well as a head of government. Our PM is only a head of government. While we do have a bit of a splash when we change Governors-General, the last time we changed our head of state was 1952, and the coronation was 1953, before even I was born, and long before you. And that was A Big Splash.
(while the Queen certainly is elderly [I should be doing so well when I'm 82 - though obviously she has good longevity genes], right now she's only a grandmother, not a great-grandmother; and she's not using a walker yet. Though she does have the power to push the PM off his podium.)
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Date: 2009-01-20 10:15 pm (UTC)Part of the contrast I believe is the difference between the two national cultures, the flag-waving rah-rah-rah in the US versus the more restrained introvert Canadian approach.
The other difference is that Mr Obama has just become a head of state, as well as a head of government. Our PM is only a head of government. While we do have a bit of a splash when we change Governors-General, the last time we changed our head of state was 1952, and the coronation was 1953, before even I was born, and long before you. And that was A Big Splash.
(while the Queen certainly is elderly [I should be doing so well when I'm 82 - though obviously she has good longevity genes], right now she's only a grandmother, not a great-grandmother; and she's not using a walker yet. Though she does have the power to push the PM off his podium.)