Posts
Dan Arnold (aka Calgary Grit) wrote an amusing piece, sarcastically suggesting that the Liberals and Conservatives should merge. One paragraph in particular struck me:
Believe me, I too see how bleak the future looks for the Liberals. After all, we have been out of power for four years, while Harper sits with a towering 34% in the polls. I cannot imagine a more hopeless situation.
In his tongue and cheek manner, Mr. Arnold makes a good point here. The Liberal Party should not be this demoralized. In 2006 they lost due mostly to the biggest scandal in Canadian politics for a generation. In 2008 they lost because of a single bad policy proposal and a weak leader. The Liberal Party may be in trouble for a variety of reasons, but it certainly isn’t hopeless. The Liberal Party is still an important political force in federal politics.
By the way you hear some Liberals talk you would think that it was 1993 and they were Kim Campbell’s PC Party. Remember 1993? The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was all but wiped out and it still took them 12 years to decide to merge with their political opponent. Yet some in the Liberal Party seem willing to pack it all in after just 4 years of a Conservative minority government.
The real problem with the Liberal Party is that they don’t know how to lose. Losing in politics, or at least losing constructively, is an art that every political party needs to master. I mean by this, the ability to internalize within the institution of a political party the lessons of a defeat.
The Liberal Party hasn’t done this. They are still looking for a quick fix. As James Travers points out, the Liberals seem to be in the search of an easy way back to victory. They are looking for a new leader that will grant them victory, a merger with the NDP, or even a return of Jean Chretien. All of these ideas are nutty but they are being talked about seriously by way too many people.
Instead the Liberal Party should take a deep breath, realize that sometimes you lose elections in a democracy, and figure out how they are going to win next time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
But they did figure out a way. That was to sign a coalition deal with socialists and Saepratists. It didn't really work as planned.
Then they coronated Iggy. The other wannabes dropped out like flys to make room for their saviour. That ain't working either.
They are entitled. They want to govern.
Why bother - They are definitely doomed to failure.
The did it to themselves - End of story
To quote W.C. Fields on his desired epitaph, "Here lies W.C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia." (Vanity Fair 1925). Change Fields to Ignatieff and Philly to Harvard. Cheers. FernStAlbert
There seems to be an impetus to assume that when one's party is the "natural governing party", every fix will be a quick fix.
Not when your organization has been found to be as inept and corrupt as the Liberals have,
Back to the drawing board. The sooner, the better.
Post a Comment