By Kelly McParland - from the National Post
Here’s something for Liberal party worthies to think about as they pass the long holiday weekend wondering what on earth to do about Jack Layton: Maybe they shouldn’t do anything about Jack. Maybe they should do something about themselves.
The Liberals are caught in an identity crisis, and have been since the old caudillo, Jean Chretien, retired to the corporate uplands. Chretien didn’t stand for much either, other than winning, but at least he was in a position to pull that off. Since his departure, and Paul Martin’s defeat, Liberal strategy has consisted of two streams: painting Stephen Harper as a stooge of the U.S. corporate-military complex, and reminding Canadians that the Liberals introduced universal health care.
Is it really a shock that the recipe has failed to excite people? The 2008 campaign was a disaster, the party having tied itself to the hare-brained Green Shift and a leader who got more incoherent by the day. Since he replaced Stephane Dion two years ago, Michael Ignatieff has been all over the map, a conservative-minded academic running a party that has moved steadily to the left, but which zigs and zags with each new headline. Now Layton appears to have passed them on the left, and taken the NDP into second spot. What to do?
Answer: Quit reacting. Find a reason for the Liberals to exist. Read more
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