Wednesday, September 05, 2012

In the blink of an eye

I was about to post something a little snarky last night about how Pauline Marois couldn't quite close the deal with Quebecers. Then I read about the shooting and saw her amazingly confident ability to react quickly but calmly, and prevent panic.
In the blink of an eye, my opinion of her changed. As the Montreal Gazette put it, In moment of crisis, Marois shows Quebecers formidable poise:
Take her measure. She showed sangfroid — cold blood — in a moment of crisis.
She hit the correct notes in her news conference on Wednesday, pointing out that Quebec is not a violent society, that the incident had nothing to do with politics.
Quebecers will take note of the formidable Madame Marois’s poise today. She can be expected to benefit, especially, from appearing in a positive light to the majority of Quebecers, who did not vote for her.
Marois was elected with the weakest possible mandate: 31.9 per cent of the popular vote and 54 seats. Facing an unpopular premier in the midst of a student crisis and a corruption inquiry, she was unable to make the sale.
But that was then and this is now. She's shown now that she has what it takes.

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