I think of PIERRE TRUDEAU as the first postmodern politician. He loved to repudiate conventional partisan ideologies, and if, in the end, that served his partisan goals, well, there would be just a little Gallic upturn at the corners of his mouth. He had a near perfect understanding of the possible uses of celebrity. If a photographer was close, he'd manage a jackknife off the low board, a rose in his buttonhole or a pretty woman on his arm. He knifed through dowdy Canadian politics like the classy skier he was--moving gracefully, radiating freedom, yet somehow making all the gates. He...
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