Alberta’s premier fumbles with fuel pump, expert says it could cost him votes
Posted April 4, 2022 3:46 pm.
Last Updated April 4, 2022 5:37 pm.
A video posted by CityNews on Friday shows Alberta Premier Jason Kenney having trouble pumping fuel into his symbolic blue pick-up truck.
In the now-viral video, Kenney can be seen struggling to pull the gasoline nozzle out of his truck, and also having issues processing his credit card at the fuel pump.
https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1510026679351054338
With many people, himself included, turning the fumble into a meme, is Kenney in trouble?
“This is the age of performative politics, and politicians like to get out and do things particularly that can go on social media. The problem is, you live and die by that same sword,” explained Clive Veroni, president of Leap Consulting.
“So, this kind of fumble is going to result in endless memes that will get shown and reshown over and over again. It will be a big embarrassment for him.”
Veroni says Kenney likes to present himself as the average Joe, and him struggling with a gas nozzle ruins that image.
“This is a guy who likes to present himself as an everyman, particularly as a Westerner, as part of his performative politics he likes to dress up in a cowboy hat and boots and drive around in a pick-up truck. If you don’t know how to fill your own pick-up truck, the expression is that you’re all hat and no horse.”
Alberta is no stranger to embarrassing photo-ops, Former Wildrose party leader Danielle Smith’s campaign bus turned eyes in 2012, as a photo of her was placed slightly above the rear tires of the bus.
The tires covered her upper chest, providing a slightly awkward advertisement for Smith.
Veroni says Kenney’s fuel pump flub reminds him of what happened in the 1974 federal election.
“Conservative leader Robert Stanfield was tossing a football around one day and fumbled the catch and it was caught by cameras and made it onto the front page of just about every newspaper in the country. Many people say that picture of him fumbling the football may have cost him the election,” he said.
“I’m not suggesting Kenney is going to lose an election because of this incident but these things make a huge impression on people. Particularly if you’re pretending to be a guy who knows what he’s doing, someone who’s in charge, someone who’s in control rather than kind of the Mr. Bean of Canadian politics.”
Kenney made light of his mistake on social media Sunday.
— Jason Kenney ???????????????????????? (@jkenney) April 3, 2022
“That’s cute, but at the end of the day I don’t think it makes much difference,” Veroni said in response to Kenney’s tweet.
“I don’t think it really matters that much what he says about it, it’s what others have to say about it and others have been repurposing this event as a meme. I think it helps that he’s trying to make fun of it, but I don’t think that overcomes the overall effect of him being clumsy, fumbling, (seemingly) not knowing how to do some pretty basic tasks.”
Veroni suggests Kenney supporters will make excuses for him and play it off, but the only way for Kenney to move forward is by distracting people from the incident, whether that’s intentional or by waiting for something bigger and more attention-worthy to happen.
“People who want to find an excuse will give him an excuse, but most people looking at this will say well that’s simply ridiculous, it’s a bit of a joke, it makes him look foolish,” he added.
“In the world of politics, there’s something called the ‘Dead Cat Strategy,’ which is when something is not going your way, you throw a dead cat on the table, and all of a sudden people say, ‘LOOK THERE’S A DEAD CAT ON THE TABLE!’ and they forget about the fact that you had some major blunder.”
