Anyone but Ignatieff. Yipee. (Apologies in advance for the length of this rant... It's a boring Sunday)
All the people I saw and read about who supported Ignatieff seemed like the worst kind of kiss-asses and phonies, grabbing at power by pretending to be do-gooders. Or is that every person in politics? I think his youth support reflects very poorly on my own generation and the kind of political leadership we're going to bring about. (But at least I'll have something to complain about in a few decades, so that's good.)
Ignatieff's popularity and the youth support generated by Stronach in her Conservative bid suggest that idol-worship is a little too strong in my generation. I mean, it won't be Hitler-Mussolini bad, but with those two names, it was recognition and status above qualifications and record of success. Not to mention they were both silver-spoon kids. (As was Dion, Rae... Jesus... Canada is much more dynastic than we like to tell ourselves.)
I don't have a clue about Mr. Dion, and it's annoying that Canada has so many prime ministers from Quebec... I'll still be voting Green next time, because the two major parties are still on roughly the same page and the NDP won't be the remotest of threats in the next election.
Also. Did Bob Rae really screw up Canada's economy? I was more interested in the Ninja Turtles back then, but my sense of history suggests that America too was in a pretty stagnant growth rate, and Japan was in freefall, and maybe Ontarians are putting a little too much blame on the politician in charge at the time. I highly doubt a Premier has that much control over the international market.
(Please feel free to tell me I'm wrong. I really don't have a clue, but he seemed the strongest candidate to me, by about two miles, assuming you could get past the recession thing.)
My real hope is that Rae stays with the party, gains some support over the next 3-5 years, and then becomes the next leader of the party at the next convention.
It's entirely possible that Dion will lose the next election, although the party's momentum will be strong with all these newly-marqueed names on the ticket, and if Dion loses, as any Liberal who loses an election, he probably won't get a second chance.
Ignatieff's popularity and the youth support generated by Stronach in her Conservative bid suggest that idol-worship is a little too strong in my generation. I mean, it won't be Hitler-Mussolini bad, but with those two names, it was recognition and status above qualifications and record of success. Not to mention they were both silver-spoon kids. (As was Dion, Rae... Jesus... Canada is much more dynastic than we like to tell ourselves.)
I don't have a clue about Mr. Dion, and it's annoying that Canada has so many prime ministers from Quebec... I'll still be voting Green next time, because the two major parties are still on roughly the same page and the NDP won't be the remotest of threats in the next election.
Also. Did Bob Rae really screw up Canada's economy? I was more interested in the Ninja Turtles back then, but my sense of history suggests that America too was in a pretty stagnant growth rate, and Japan was in freefall, and maybe Ontarians are putting a little too much blame on the politician in charge at the time. I highly doubt a Premier has that much control over the international market.
(Please feel free to tell me I'm wrong. I really don't have a clue, but he seemed the strongest candidate to me, by about two miles, assuming you could get past the recession thing.)
My real hope is that Rae stays with the party, gains some support over the next 3-5 years, and then becomes the next leader of the party at the next convention.
It's entirely possible that Dion will lose the next election, although the party's momentum will be strong with all these newly-marqueed names on the ticket, and if Dion loses, as any Liberal who loses an election, he probably won't get a second chance.
posted by Timothy Holden at
12:12 AM
3 Comments:
I like Rae and hope he stays around but Rae embodied the fears people had with NDP governments. He over spent and then recouped the losses by taking it out on government itself with cuts to civil servants, teachers, etc. If the Liberals REALLY wanted an NDP guy to lead them, they should have looked to Roy Romanow.
Dion made an attempt to reach out o each of the candidates in his victory speech and if that works, the Liberals will do very well to keep that crew together. There's lots of star power there and a good cross section of needed beliefs. (Minus Iggy who I'm sure will skulk back to Ivory-tower academia.) Contrast that with the Tories who have Harper only, as he's been busy keeping a muzzle on the personalities in his party.
Kennedy comes out as a guy to watch though. Strong speaker with a fair track record that includes but Alberta and Ontario and he had the endorsement of the Trudeau clan, but still lived up to his bargain with Dion to offer up his votes when Dion came out originally only 0.1% higher in votes than him. Well played.
By
Ian, at 7:23 AM
For real. I hope Kennedy runs again next time. His speech was sensible (instead of being like, "We rule! Woo liberals!", he said something like "Hey, so I think that whole losing the election thing means the voters were telling us something") and he seems like he'd be a good choice to win votes back from the Conservatives, as he is actually from the West and wasn't involved in the Chretien or Martin administrations. Also, he ran the Edmonton food bank, then the Toronto food bank before he got involved in provincial politics, which indicates that he may actually understand and care about the actual less fortunate. Dion's an okay second choice though.
By
Anonymous, at 11:01 AM
With Dion and Ed Stelmach being election, Canada should change its motto from "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" to
"Canada: The Land Where Third Choice Is Really First Choice"
PS: Albertian Sepratists by the end of the decade. We'll have constitional crises in the East and West.
PPS: Within 5 years Bob Rae will ascend to the Liberal leadership throne and be seen as the Pierre Eliot Trudeau of the 21st Century (i dont know if thats a good or bad thing)
PPPS: Harper will crush Dion by playing to the Southern Ontario frustration over the power and influence of Quebec(have you heard Dion speak yet? The guy speaks less English than I speak French). Expect more boring talks about equalization and the fiscal imbalance over the next 5 years.
PPPPS: I'm glad Ignatieff lost. I'll bet you a box of doughnuts (im hungry) he doesn't even bother running in the next election and runs back to the US of A first chance he gets, where he can call Ukranians anti-semites and peasants to his heart's content
By
Anonymous, at 8:52 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home