Aw, not another joker for Liberal Leader! That's Michael "Iggy" Ignatieff, of Russian Czarist descent and habitual American residence, an Ivory-tower egghead like his immediate predecessor Stephane "Mr. Bean" Dion, who's just been forced to step aside so that Czar Igor can sit upon the Big Special La-Z-Boy and be coronated Leader of the Party of COUPSCAM. He doesn't normally appear in public as above, though the photograph is lightly retouched to more accurately reflect how I perceive him as potential prime ministerial material.Looking at the news today, it's obvious to me that Michael Ignatieff will soon be coronated the Liberal Leader, without a leadership contest, as was already underway, but from which the other declared candidates have withdrawn.
I'll let a former Liberal Party President tell us why he doesn't think a coronation is a good idea. Click here to read Stephen LeDrew's POV.
A party cannot choose a leadership candidate to be interim leader, and expect anyone to think it is a fair race. That is why parties traditionally demand that any interim leader sign a pledge saying he or she will not run for permanent leader. It is also wrong to deny thousand of people their say; it is undemocratic and bad politics. It smacks of an elitist club.
Well, it is an elitist club, after all...
In response, some Liberals contend that the party needs a permanent leader to run in the election that surely will befall us before the Liberal convention in Vancouver slated for May. But anyone who says that the Liberals should vote down the government has rocks in his head.
Rocks in the head... Well, we're talking about Liberals. Duh, anyone still in the Liberal Party... well, 'nuff said!
The Liberal party has no money, precious few new ideas (I am being generous here), an embarrassing leader and the least voter-support in its history. It desperately needs to rebuild before it can expect any respect from Canadians.
That's particularly stinging, coming from a past President of the Party, isn't it? I could've said what he said, but since he already said it, well, moving on...
In the interest of fairness, I suggest that trigger-happy MPs wait to see the next budget before they huff and puff and try to blow Harper's house down. Hopefully he will have learned his lesson, and deliver a first-class economic plan for Canada. If calm prevails, there will be no need to implement a whole new system of electronic voting in time for January, as some are suggesting. Besides, history shows that the outcome of an untested method will only further embarrass a party that can't produce a timely and focussed video of its leader.
Mr. LeDrew also reminds us of what happened due to Paul Martin's own de-facto coronation. A minority government in his first federal general election as leader, followed by defeat in the subsequent election.
Czar Igor is supposed to be super-smart, therefore he'd make a good Liberal leader who could defeat the already-demonstrated-as super-smart Stephen Harper. Right?
Not necessarily. After all, remember when we used to think that Stephane Dion was super-smart, from his masterful beat-down of the separatists in Quebec? Well, once the spotlight was actually shone on him and he actually had to prove how smart he supposedly was... the rest is history.
Czar Igor? Bring him on.
