Cornwall ON – Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has resigned. Pointing out attack ads and such really doesn’t portray the “Big Picture”.
Politics has always been high stakes, high pressure, and filled with attacks. It’s the choices one makes in creating their own attacks and defenses that help at the end of the day.
While there are many polite accolades being shared the reality is that Mr. Ignatieff never connected with Canadian voters. He didn’t have the political integrity or weight that Stephane Dion had, and as crippled as Mr. Dion was by attack ads Mr. Ignatieff actually fared worse.
The Liberals are at a low point as I write this. As a former Federal Liberal I feel a lot of frustration watching this once great party not find its footing. They now have four years to go back and recalibrate themselves, and try and rebuild.
As for attack ads they are not going away anytime soon. The good news is that I don’t think Mr. Harper won his majority because of attack ads. The NDP’s success has shown that. The Harper government won and the Liberals lost because of strategy and an effective campaign.
The Liberals need to go and find their spiritual core and come back with a reason to vote for them and a leader that actually has a chance of winning over the Canadian public.
It’s time to clean the house, paint the house, and get it ready for sale. The Liberals have four years to tackle the job. Only time will tell if they have the testicular fortitude to do so?
What do you think Canada? You can post your comments below.
It will be a 4 year burn. You’re absolutely right about the split between the two left parties. But when Layton Mania had occured in Quebec, the conservatives ceased on the oppertunity to scare the Canadian public once again, and urge people to either vote for a Harper government or a NDP, at which point the liberal-centre base shifted to the Tories to avoid a NDP surge in Ontario. The inevitable merging of the left must now occur. Albeit this might be more difficult with the Liberals in the back seat; perhaps Rae with NDP experience could be the one, as he said we should, to get the dialogue started.
I feel sorry for those who gleam all of their political opinion from attack ads. Unfortunately, for many voters it is the only opinion they have. It is a known fact that the multimillion dollars worth of attack ads, first against Stephane Dion and then against Michael Ignatieff damaged their reputations before they even had a chance to introduce themselves to Canada, much less share their visions. Paid for by the Conservative war machine, these ads were at the very least vicious and shameful, but also in reality twisted the truth to the point of nearly being criminally slanderous. I believe that frequently there was a very fine line. I know many good Liberal supporters who were even bamboozled by these often ludicrous attacks. They did not like either one of these leaders without even actually knowing them, without ever listening to them speaks or reading about them or learning what they stood for.
I guess we can congratulate the Conservatives on their successful strategy, but how do we explain to our children that this form of information, deception, and slander is all good? Unfortunately the unethical style of attack ad is now a part of our political landscape. All parties have fallen prey to that demon. Thanks to the Harper Government I already don’t recognize Canada; I haven’t for a long time! Not at least in a good way. In my opinion anyway.