huggable Harper?

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No one ever expected that power would turn Stephen Harper into a warm and cuddly soul. It's simply not in his nature. He holds babies at arm's length. He makes small talk with the stilted charm of an alien. His smiles often look pained. In a delicious moment last May, on a tour to endear himself to Canadians, he plunked himself down at a knee-high table, peered at finger-painting toddlers and, when they waved their tiny hands in his vicinity, muttered, "Don't touch me." Last January, at the end of the second English-language leaders debate, he gave up the pretense. "My strengths are not spin or passion," he told viewers.

Each PM must find his or her style. In Mr. Harper's case, sudden bonhomie would be alarming. But he should remember his basic political texts. Astute prime ministers build a foundation of trust and familiarity so that voters will accord them the benefit of the doubt in dicey situations. Political strategists have warned, “If the only time you get seen is in a crisis that you don't own or control or in a transparently staged photo op, people's judgment is not likely to be very sympathetic when events force you to appear.”

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