Liberal Party

Having been in power for so long it was natural that the Liberal party might suffer some time out of power. That the party found itself out of power because of a series of weak leaders was fairly suprising. Many had high hopes for Paul Martin who while a great manager was revealed an uninspiring leader. Martin took the Liberal party out of power and surrendered the country to the Harper conservatives.

Following Martins resignation, Leader Dion took over, principally because of the youthful mistake of another leadership hopeful. Dion took over the party with almost no ability to gain the confidence of voters and barely that of his own party. While a lovely person, Mr. Dion’s time at the helm of the Liberal party was clownish, to be kind.  Enter Michael Ignatieff. Smart, telegenic, trendy, well educated and traveled, a prominent political thinker Mr. Ignatieff was seen by some as new Pierre Trudeau.  Unfortunately Mr.Ignatieff has proven no match for the political genius of his adversary Mr. Harper.

Thus far, Ignatieff has proved himself to be more theorist than real life political operative. Of his many attributes, the Prime Minister has something none of the opposition leaders seem to posses, a spine. Mr. Harper is a man who seems fearless. ‘Go ahead, make my day’ might just be the Prime Ministers brand. Faced with a brave man, a theorist can not stand.

And that is Mr. Ignatieff’s problem. Like Jack Layton and unlike the Prime Minister, Mr. Ignatieff is charming and likable, smart, good on his feet, and has a certain gravitas that would be needed to lead a great country. On the other hand, Mr. Ignatieff is not nearly the political strategist that the Prime Minister is on a bad day. Add to that necessary abilty an absent vertabrae, and Ignatieff like Dion before him, will be a failed leader. Absent the ability to accept incrementalism as a tool to power, Mr. Ignatieff will fail.

next-lessons from Harper on how to win a Liberal majority