Thursday, October 05, 2006
How in the world is Iggy ready to be PM now?
Michael Ignatieff is a rookie MP who has lived outside of Canada for decades. Is he really ready to lead our country now? Whatever.
One of the things that I keep hearing from the Iggy people is that their guy is the one most ready to win an election that might happen sooner rather than later. Quite frankly, I still don't understand where that assessment comes from, since fact doesn't appear to be its primary foundation.
How else could you explain someone reading this article assessing the leading contenders and conclude that it's Ignatieff who is most ready to lead the party to electoral success just around the corner?
Michael Ignatieff is a rookie MP who has lived outside of this country for the last thirty years. His supporters claim that his performance in this leadership race proves that he's ready to lead the country. Ah yes, six months playing footsie in a leadership contest designed to avoid confrontation, and endorsements from prominent Liberals who seem intent on crowning someone again, sure seems like a road to the PMO, doesn't it?
If your only consideration for picking the new leader is readiness to lead a party to victory, then Bob Rae is your guy hands down. Only he has any clue of what leading a party into high office is really like. And even he will have problems getting his act together if he happens to win the leadership of the party.
As with the Paul Martin saga, so much of the Ignatieff candidacy is about following the crowd and trusting them that he can do it. Forget about the underlying facts. Forget about having the candidate actually prove himself in the job. It's all about buzz as opposed to reality. The party went down that road before. Paul Martin was the result.
How else could you explain someone reading this article assessing the leading contenders and conclude that it's Ignatieff who is most ready to lead the party to electoral success just around the corner?
Michael Ignatieff is a rookie MP who has lived outside of this country for the last thirty years. His supporters claim that his performance in this leadership race proves that he's ready to lead the country. Ah yes, six months playing footsie in a leadership contest designed to avoid confrontation, and endorsements from prominent Liberals who seem intent on crowning someone again, sure seems like a road to the PMO, doesn't it?
If your only consideration for picking the new leader is readiness to lead a party to victory, then Bob Rae is your guy hands down. Only he has any clue of what leading a party into high office is really like. And even he will have problems getting his act together if he happens to win the leadership of the party.
As with the Paul Martin saga, so much of the Ignatieff candidacy is about following the crowd and trusting them that he can do it. Forget about the underlying facts. Forget about having the candidate actually prove himself in the job. It's all about buzz as opposed to reality. The party went down that road before. Paul Martin was the result.
