Partisan Confidence

Well, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, so enthusiastically anointed to the position to speedily eradicate the whiff of failure left behind by his earnestly scholarly predecessor, Stephane Dion, has certainly proven how different he is. Nothing meek and mild about Mr. Ignatieff, he's got confidence, audacity and inexperience writ large all over his stonehenge-visage. And he has also proven that he's as much a master at bluff and dissembling as his predecessor, with the added advantage that he speaks the politics of the English language faultlessly.

Well, sure, Mr. Dion was headstrong, stout in his belief in the reasonability of peoples' perceptions; that if he put forward a strong and forthright agenda - even if all the economic homework wasn't quite completed - it would be accepted, and supported by the voting public. His confused response when his ideas were shoved right back in his face simply spoke to the professor in him, unaccustomed to the impudence of students who refuse to recognize reality.

This does bear some resemblance to the Liberal caucus understanding the reality of unpreparedness to call an election. Let alone the fact that there is no real reason to call the government on its governance to date. Caution occasionally is required within politics lest one be left holding an empty bag of rhetoric. A misfortune which befell the redoubtably-sincere Mr. Dion, and which Mr. Ignatieff feels cannot possibly be re-visited upon him.

His bag, he feels confident, is stuffed full of Conservative-government faults and inadequate initiatives. Every one of which was endorsed by the Liberals, but that is just a little bit of an historical inconvenience. Seems just as Mr. Dion experienced some difficulty in listening rather than going off full-cock in his own inimitable direction, so too does Mr. Ignatieff turn a deaf ear to the confidences of his more experienced colleagues.

Few of whom feel quite as enthusiastic about the prospect of bringing down the government as does their leader. They're the wimps, of course, and he's the tough guy, eager to bull his way through to power. After all, if the leadership just conveniently fell into his pocket, why not government itself? And let's face it, with the economy on the verge of recovery, this is as convenient a time as any to change faces and labels.

Wait a little longer and that change-over becomes slightly more problematical. At which time Canadians might be less likely to bring in our very own Canadian Obama - or should that be internationalized (Americanized) Ignatieff?