Behind the failure

A couple of follow-up notes worth highlighting on the Cons' unprecedented UN disaster yesterday.

First, it's worth noting (as pointed out by John Ibbitson) that yesterday's two votes reflected a difference between the effectiveness of a country's pressure and lobbying, and its genuine support in the international community. And it shouldn't come as much surprise that while Harper mounted a campaign based primarily on the former, he failed miserably on the latter:

On Tuesday, after receiving 114 votes in the first round, Canada saw its support collapse to just 78 votes in the second. It’s an unwritten rule at the UN, diplomats said, that commitments are only valid through the first round of voting, which means the second can demonstrate the real strength of a country’s backing.

Now, part of the fallout within Canada has to be the question of what was promised or threatened in order to win the first-ballot votes of 36 countries who didn't ultimately want to see the Cons win a seat. But it's striking that under Harper, a country known as a soft power which could inspire other countries to seek common goals despite its relatively small population instead focused its bid on arm-twisting rather than persuasion. And Harper evidently had to learn the hard way that the vote would come down to principles rather than promises.

Meanwhile, Embassy's coverage of the failed bid raises another question: if the Cons plan on blaming the international community's rebuke on a single instance of concern from Michael Ignatieff, wouldn't it stand to reason that they should have sought opposition support and assistance wherever possible? Because they instead chose to nix the NDP's efforts to help bring the international community onside:

NDP foreign afffairs critic Paul Dewar, speaking from Parliament Hill after the UN vote, said it was "too cute by half" to blame Mr. Ignatieff.

"I do lay this at the feet of our Prime Minister and our foreign affairs minister. They have had an opportunity for a number of years to underline Canada's goals in the world, and they failed to do so," he said.

He argued that the NDP reached across the aisle and offered to help the government win Canada's bid, but that the Conservatives did not follow through, canceling a planned trip with Mr. Dewar and Mr. Kent to New York.

"So there are hollow words and vacant actions from the government, whom simply think it can do what it will, and it doesn't look to work with others."

Now, I agree with the general view that the Cons' attempts to blame Ignatieff are misplaced. But it would seem fairly obvious that it would be worth putting together all the support from within Canada that the Cons could muster. Yet they chose to go it alone rather than allowing at least one opposition MP to work in Canada's interest - which should make it even less surprising that the Cons ended up isolated when it counted.