The split in public opinion on the war in Afghanistan shows that an enormous number of Canadians see Stephen Harper's position as a knee-jerk response to the wishes of George W. Bush.
Linking Harper to Bush has been a staple of the NDP and the left of the Liberal party since the Harper mission in Afghanistan started. Harper's defence of his war in Afghanistan is that he's not a prisoner of Bush but is simply carrying on a mission started by the Liberals. And he's right.
Still, the charge that Harper is a Bush puppet is sticking, and it's hurting Harper as both he and Bush are dropping in the polls. Afghanistan is not only stopping Harper's quest for a majority government – it could even cost him the next election.
But there's an interesting development occurring in American politics that can help Harper sell his Afghan mission more easily – there's a shift in American politics that will help Harper come out of his deadly association with Bush in the public mind.
In the United States the Clintons are a powerful team. Bill Clinton is probably the most popular president in Canadian eyes since Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Clinton was the hit of the recent Toronto AIDS conference. Clinton's senator wife, Hillary, has every chance of becoming the first woman president of the United States.
And the Clintons say Bush in Iraq has meant the U.S. is not attacking the real terrorist enemy: the Taliban in Afghanistan. Recently in talking to the National Post in Washington, both Clintons said that the war in Iraq had drained resources from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Said Bill Clinton: "We have approximately 6½ times as many troops in Iraq as in Afghanistan. There are not enough trained Afghan troops or enough NATO and American troops there to provide security."
Said Senator Hillary Clinton: "No one with a straight face can doubt we have diverted resources away from our primary mission in Afghanistan."
The Clintons' arguments on Afghanistan reinforce Harper's view that the Afghan mission is the right and correct one. The Clintons are really saying there's a difference between the war in Iraq, which is a total quagmire, and the war in Afghanistan, which is not only necessary but can end in success.
The Clintons are liberals. Harper is a radical conservative. But Harper needs all the help he can get to separate him from the most unpopular president in American history.
The Clintons' arguments on Afghanistan are identical to Harper's. Harper can use the Clintons' support for a more robust American presence in Afghanistan to provide him with further claim to being his own man and not a Bush puppet.
Harper should try to make contact with the Clintons. He could do that through Michael Wilson, his ambassador to the United States. A Clinton endorsement would not hurt Harper; it would mean American bipartisan support for his war in Afghanistan.
That Clinton nod would help to nix the silly argument that Harper is really only a tool of George W. Bush. The anti-Bush rhetoric of the NDP and the left of the Liberals would not really play well when applied to the liberal Clintons.
If Harper used the Clintons properly, they may just get him out of his too-close ties with the Bush administration. Harper should expand his American horizons – and check in with the Clintons.
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