Charm. Watson Has Oodles Of Charm

“Charm is as delicate a phenomenon as the rainbow; at a puff of wind, at the movement of a cloud, the lovely miracle trembles, grows pale, or even disappears. It is dangerous to base anything upon charm, it is in fact building on clouds and leaning upon zephyrs.”

Henri Frédéric Amiel, Swiss philosopher

Ex-mayor and former Ontario cabinet minister Jim Watson has charm. Lots of charm. Charm like dogs have fleas.

Now that Bulldog commentator Mike Patton has floated the idea of Watson returning as mayor, so too does that bring the question of his ability to do the job.

And that’s where charm comes in.

Watson, when he was charming, could get most everything he wanted. You know, a light-rail project for example.

But charm does not balance budgets, nor build rails, nor put your ideas together to form coherent plans. No, charm doesn’t do that. Charm gets you what you want but sometimes one’s reach exceeds one’s grasp.

Charm is a dangerous thing. It gets people to like you and to do what you want. The problem is that if there’s not enough behind the charm, you still get elected, repeatedly, because people like you. What you do with the charm-based power might not be the best. Like administering a light-rail project that turned out to be the biggest disaster in Ottawa municipal history. Charm gets you elected. What you do with the power that charm brings you is the purview of the proprietor of charm. And in Watson’s case, he buried his mistakes in press releases, deflections and charm. People liked it. The media liked it (an easy story). Voters liked it.

Your agent liked it … for awhile. Watson and myself went for pizza and traded phone calls. Watson was charming. Still is.

Many have speculated that the top-knock at The Bulldog hates Watson. Not so. Too charming. The editor didn’t like what he did with that charm.

But over time another side of the ex-mayor began to show. Out of the blue, Watson banned The Bulldog from receiving press releases. A nation-wide media storm ensued which, Watson does not know, was about to go nuclear. On this ethical question, the big media started to line-up to discuss this PR faux pas. Had Watson not dropped the press-release ban when he did just in the nick of time, he was about to get gigantic coverage that he could not imagine. On the next Monday. Watson dumped the ban on the previous Tuesday. Like someone took a shot at him and just missed.

But your agent, much before others because of this website’s emphasis on local news, saw the other side of Watson early. He charmed the mighty and senior media types so that he could rise above bad publicity. Plaques and honours were dispatched with haste. It was all rather embarrassing but people fell for it, just like your agent did for awhile. But Watson’s likeability wears out quickly. Just ask Doug Ford. Or Kathleen Wynne. Or veteran councillors when there were solid veteran types on council. Watson could turn as fast as he could charm. Accordingly, so to his downfall. Doug Ford eats his enemies and thus the provincial LRT light-rail inquiry. And in the near future, the special coroner’s investigation into the tragic Westboro bus crash. From what your agent knows of what will be revealed at that investigation, the outcome will be devastating and properly so.

So to answer Patton’s question, no, Watson should not return as mayor. Charm is dangerous when there’s not much behind it.

But never count out charm. That’s why Watson has a chance to return to politics some time.

Charm. Watch out for it.

Ken Gray

For You:

Do We Bring Back Ex-Mayor Jim Watson? PATTON

For The Love Of God, Not Watson: THE VOTER

Stop Transpo Reliability ‘Crap-Shoot’: THE VOTER

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