Iggy
So Michael Ignatieff is the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. So what? you may ask. So he is someone that Stephen Harper can't bully, that's what. Poor Stéphane Dion, a man of honesty and integrity, but politically inept, was easy prey for the blatant lies, attack adds and character assassination techniques of Harper.
With Ignatieff, the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition is moribund but not necessarily dead. It can be revived. I believe he is every bit as cunning as Harper, and probably smarter. I never thought I'd say such a thing, given my experience with the denizens of the Halls of Academe, of which he is an internationally renowned member.
During the years of my political activity, I met and worked with (or against) many professors, Phd's and other "intellectuals". At first I thought these folk sat next to God, but I was eventually disabused of that idea. I found that many of them didn't live in the real world, were caught up in their egotisms, had impractical ideas and no real contact with people at large. So when Ignatieff appeared on the scene, I was not impressed.
Now, however, that I've heard and seen him, I'm having second thoughts. He seems to be without dogma, a true Liberal in that regard. He will likely force Harper to include items in the upcoming budget that will be palatable to Liberals. In this way, they can vote for it, thus denying Harper the election he very much wants, given his big lead in the opinion polls, and giving the Liberals time to re-organize and do some fund raising. We're in for a chess match. Harper may include a poison pill in an otherwise progressive budget, such as the cutting off of federal funds to political parties, which drove the opposition parties into a state of apoplexy and brought about the present situation. The jockeying for position will proceed apace. It will be grist to the pundits' mill.
It is very important to the health of our democracy to have a strong Liberal Party because it has always represented the values of most Canadians. They have also screwed up, to be sure. They deserved to lose in 2006 because of the sponsorship scandal. Too bad the result had to be a win for Republican-style reactionaries.
Ignatieff may just be the calm voice of sanity and moderation that we need at this time. More power to him!
With Ignatieff, the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition is moribund but not necessarily dead. It can be revived. I believe he is every bit as cunning as Harper, and probably smarter. I never thought I'd say such a thing, given my experience with the denizens of the Halls of Academe, of which he is an internationally renowned member.
During the years of my political activity, I met and worked with (or against) many professors, Phd's and other "intellectuals". At first I thought these folk sat next to God, but I was eventually disabused of that idea. I found that many of them didn't live in the real world, were caught up in their egotisms, had impractical ideas and no real contact with people at large. So when Ignatieff appeared on the scene, I was not impressed.
Now, however, that I've heard and seen him, I'm having second thoughts. He seems to be without dogma, a true Liberal in that regard. He will likely force Harper to include items in the upcoming budget that will be palatable to Liberals. In this way, they can vote for it, thus denying Harper the election he very much wants, given his big lead in the opinion polls, and giving the Liberals time to re-organize and do some fund raising. We're in for a chess match. Harper may include a poison pill in an otherwise progressive budget, such as the cutting off of federal funds to political parties, which drove the opposition parties into a state of apoplexy and brought about the present situation. The jockeying for position will proceed apace. It will be grist to the pundits' mill.
It is very important to the health of our democracy to have a strong Liberal Party because it has always represented the values of most Canadians. They have also screwed up, to be sure. They deserved to lose in 2006 because of the sponsorship scandal. Too bad the result had to be a win for Republican-style reactionaries.
Ignatieff may just be the calm voice of sanity and moderation that we need at this time. More power to him!
posted by puzzled @ 8:53 AM
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