I Don’t Dig Ig

What is this fascination the federal Liberal caucus have with Michael Ignatieff?

After a weekend of anxious phone calls and velvet-gloved cajolling, the Liberals are almost certain to name Ignatieff their interim leader this week.

In a country of 30 million + people, just over 100 (the MPs plus the Liberal senators) will crown him their king, pushing aside Bob Rae and what’s-his-name, otherwise known as Dominic LeBlanc, New Brunswick MP.

Poor old Stephane Dion is being unceremoniously dumped by his party. His greatest mistake, and there were many, was to forget the cardinal rule of Liberals: they play to win and so you better too.

I didn’t warm to Ignatieff during the last leadership race and in the last few weeks, he hasn’t done or said anything to give me any indication that he represents a new style of leadership.

How can a scion of the old order be repackaged as the the leader for a new era?

The evidence laid out by Michael Valpy in his excellent 2006 Globe and Mail profile suggests it can’t be done.

Ignatieff’s most recent behaviour provides further evidence of his inability to understand what the country wants and needs. As Macleans national editor Andrew Coyne points out in a recent blog post, Ignatieff chose to remain silent in the lead-up to the coalition’s creation and then, once it was launched, freed his minions, otherwise known as supporters, to whisper in journalists’ ears that Ignatieff was decidedly cool to the idea.

When I wrote a political column, I reserved my greatest contempt for those politicians who let their backers speak for them, preferring to pull strings off-stage rather than grab the spotlight and let their true opinions be known.

If you can’t speak up for yourself, how can you possibly speak up for Canadians?

We deserve better.

Margaret Wente’s on the money when she writes that there’s something not right about Stephen Harper’s smile.

We’ve got a prime minister whose hubris sent the House of Commons into unnecessary turmoil, a trio of party leaders who can’t see past their own ambitions and a battered Liberal party closing ranks around a bilingual photogenic man with a famous last name.

As Ignatieff prepares to grab hold of the Liberal party, his greatest task will not be to defeat Stephen Harper, but rather, to win back the trust of Canadians weary of political games.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 1:12 am and is filed under In the news, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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»Wasn’t that a party!

4 comments

 No.1 
Christianne Vachon Horgan:

Hey Lisa,

As you know, I was a delegate for Michael Ignatieff during the last Liberal leadership convention and I hope he can land the job this time. I’ll grant you that Michael Valpy’s excellent poison pen letter did its work well in 2006. He can really be said to have influenced that convention. I’d go so far as to say that he’s as responsible as Kennedy for landing us with “poor old Stéphane Dion”, whose greatest mistake was to forget that any party that wishes to govern must actually get elected, yes. As you admit though, that was only one item in a catalog of things Mr. Dion did not know or would not admit. He actually had a well-established reputation for being extremely stubborn, prone to ill-advised decisions and not a team player in some circles before the 2006 convention, but his press was pretty good at the time. Again, in some circles, that continues. There’s actually a Facebook group where people can go to leave him messages about how he was “just too good to be a politician”. Anyway. Michael Ignatieff was in town on Friday and here are just a few of the reasons I think he’s actually part of a new order that seeks to lead thinking, rational people that he will listen to in achieving a working compromise for the country: he will wait to see what the Conservatives come up with as a budget before rejecting it in favour of a coalition; he is conciliatory, a great speaker and he can learn, change his mind and admit he’s wrong and change course. I think he can win back the people’s trust. Provided of course, that people can get over that story of him being nasty to his brother in elementary school by now. God I’m glad I don’t live near people that knew me in grade 3. Love your blog – Christianne

December 8th, 2008 at 11:15 am
 No.2 
Lisa:

Hey Christianne,
I don’t really disagree with anything you’ve written, although I reserve judgment on whether he can win back people’s trust. What’s going on in the federal Liberal party right now doesn’t feel right, this rush to replace Dion with Ignatieff. Bottom line for me is the three contenders – Ignatieff, Rae and Leblanc are all imperfect and none ring true for me. I think if Ignatieff (or one of the other two) were going to get the public interested in politics, it would have happened already, or at the very least there would be some buzz about the guy. But outside the Liberal party, who is rooting for him or any of the others? I’ve never understood why Rae got back into politics. He had finally washed away the sins of his NDP governing past (bye-bye Pink Floyd) and was seen as a bit of an elder stateman, when he decided to join the federal Liberals and run for the leadership. Ugh.

December 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
 No.3 
Craig Pinhey:

I’ll take Ignatieff, no problem.

At least he’s smart and can answer questions intelligently.
I don’t have to like him personally (I probably wouldn’t – since he’s a private school type)

Rae is a lame duck due to his NDP experience, regardless of whether it was his fault.

Leblanc is too inexperienced for what they need right now, which is STRONG leadership.

The best thing about Iggy is that Stephen Harper is afraid of him, and for good reason. He’s just so much smarter,cooler, worldly and better looking than Captain Sweater Vest.

December 8th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
 No.4 
Lisa:

Hey Craig,

And I suppose that’s what the Liberals are counting on and Tories are worried about. The Liberals have always been the party Canadians naturally turn to, or as they say with pride and their detractors with contempt, they are the natural-governing party of Canada.

I am beginning to despair that Canadian political parties will ever truly have to go out and find a truly inspiring person; voters have gotten used to imperfect candidates. We’re vote for the best of a mediocre lot and then go back to ignoring them until the next election.

December 8th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

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