Stevie the Human Bottleneck

While Greg points out the bizarre formalities which seem to fit Harper's view of himself, the bigger issue in the Globe and Mail's article lies in the degree to which Harper is micromanaging his government:

(A senior Conservative) staffer (said) that work is already backing up in departments because the PMO's approval is required for so much.

“There are only so many things you can run by them, so decisions don't get made,” the official said. “If you're looking for the negative spin, it's killing initiative. If you're looking for the positive spin, they're keeping a close eye on everything everybody's doing.”

Of course, even the positive side doesn't sound like anything more than a mixed blessing. And when the ponderous decision-making process is combined with the Cons' insistence on blowing up all existing programs and starting over, it seems pretty clear that the end result of Harper's management will be a severe lack of ability to get anything done.

But then, that lack of action will only be a symptom of a far bigger problem within the Harper government:

Peter Donolo, a former communications director and senior adviser to Mr. Chrétien, said concentrating too much on the small stuff will clog the machinery of government and circumscribe ministers in their roles.

“Three-quarters of the job of being prime minister is knowing what's important enough to warrant your attention,” he said. “It's a recipe for disaster because the system gets constipated and secondly, you're essentially telling your people that, ‘We have no confidence in you. You're stumblebums and we wouldn't trust you five yards away from us.'"

Not that the complete lack of trust is anything new even at the highest levels of authority in the Con government. But when Harper doesn't trust his own staff to do anything right, there's no reason for Canadian voters to have any more confidence than he does. And that, combined with what's bound to be a woefully thin record of accomplishment due to Harper's insistence on being a human bottleneck, could spell serious trouble for the Cons before long.