Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Bad News First ...

Canadians returned the Stephen Harper Party to the PMO. Bad move. Very bad move, IMO.

The good news is that Quebec didn't give Harper any gains - which is the one thing that appears to have kept him out of the majority he has sought.

I expect we will see a parliament every bit as dysfunctional and rancorous as the previous parliament. The simple fact is that the HarperCon$ have no natural allies in the house, and they have gone to great lengths to isolate themselves politically. There is no sense in my mind that Harper will play for compromise - he will continue to bully his way along and in doing so will be quite destructive.

Personally, I think Dion is toast. I like the man, and I think he's more than smart enough to do the job. But, it isn't a matter of him being likable right now - it's a matter of him being able to stand toe to toe with Harper and hand Harper and his band of sneering thugs their asses back to them. (Which isn't hard to do, but requires a style that Dion simply lacks)

2 comments:

VĂ©ro B said...

I can't see how Dion will survive this. The Grits must be thinking it's time for a new leader and a general rebranding of the party -- the defeat wasn't allbecause of Dion.

Here's my hope. I hope that Conservatives will decide that two minorities, even a strengthened one, aren't good enough, and that Harper just isn't capable of connecting with enough voters to win a majority. I don't think his own job is secure in the long term.

MgS said...

I think most rational people recognize that Dion is not entirely at fault here.

However, he is the leader, and in such situations he is ultimately culpable - either through his action or inaction.

It is the nature of party politics in this country, I'm afraid.

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