Ralph

I never lived in Alberta but I know a lot of people that do or have at some point in their life. Many of them lived there when Ralph Klein was Premier of that province. The sometimes bombastic and off the cuff politician passed away a couple of days ago. I hadn't thought about him or how he was so unique for a while but this is a good time to review why he was so unique.

The thing that I liked about King Ralph was he allowed us to see his human side. He made human mistakes, some of them were embarrassing. Somehow he was always forgiven, at least by most.

Politics is a dirty game where image can often overshadow substance. It often doesn't matter if you have a better idea, it only matters that you appear to be squeaky clean. This is the disturbing part, since everyone knows that politicians do not get to where they are by being squeaky clean.

Ralph was a bit of an open book. he let us in and we could see his failings. He had a couple, mostly brought on by his love of fun.

I don't know if there will ever be another character in politics like Ralph. Today's climate will not allow for it. It's too easy to know what the public wants and people are too willing to deliver the image.

In the same vein, a while back, I was watching The Late Show with David Letterman. Alec Baldwin was the guest and New York City had just had one of its crises. Dave asked Alec if he wanted to be the mayor of New York City. Alec replied that he would want the job but not do what you have to do to get the job. This points out how people just don't want to touch politics because you can't be yourself and if you are yourself, you may not be around too long. Ralph was the exception to that rule. He was beloved in Calgary for being himself.

Ralph Klein was an original and maybe the last real person in politics.