Needed: One New Leader

I don’t feel any dislike for Stéphane Dion. He is an intelligent, well educated man with many good ideas. And his English is better than my French. I am sure he would be – and is – good at a lot of different things. But he has shown over the past few months that he lacks what is needed to lead a party and a country. I am sure that this is a difficult and painful thing to accept, but it will be best for everyone if he does so quickly.

I do not like Michael Ignatieff , primarily because he likes himself too much. I am concerned that he will pull the Liberal Party farther to the right, as that seems to be where his sympathies lie. I don’t see a future for the Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition in his hands, and I fear another election that hands the government back to Harper.

All of this being said, I think he is going to win the Liberal leadership. For some reason that arrogant attitude that both Ignatieff and Stephen Harper possess, and Dion lacks, is popular with many people.

I would prefer to see Bob Rae take over. I find him a “happy medium” between Dion and Ignatieff, as well as more to the left and in support of the coalition. But since the “Anyone but Iggy” camp chose Dion over Rae last time, I think it unlikely he will take the leadership now. He would have a better chance with a “grassroots” vote than a caucus vote, which is the reason for the two candidates wanting the voting done differently.

It sounds like Dion will step down now quite quickly and, one way or another, the Liberals will have a new leader by the time Parliament reconvenes in January. What happens then may depend as much on the Liberal leader as the Conservative one.

NOTE: As I completed writing this, I heard that Dion has said that he will step down as leader “as soon as my successor is duly chosen”.