Dion Endorsement
As I have written in my last post, I support the candidacy of Stéphane Dion for the leadership of the Liberal Party. I think Stéphane is the best candidate because his courage, committment to the Liberal party and to Canada and intelligence, not to mention honesty, are not only unmatched by any other leadership candidate, but also by any politician that I know of in Canada right now... and perhaps since many years.
I am well aware of Dion's weaknesses. His English is imperfect. He has little charisma, if any. He is perceived as too serious/not entertaining enough - he is not the master of the ever-diminishing-number-of-seconds-sound-bite. And, although I wouldn't say it's his weakness, but rather that of those who believe this, there is a part of the party that has an anybody-but-a-Quebecker attitude to the leadership contest. That such attitudes exist is, I think, a shame, because they bar consideration of a candidate who is seen as one of the most qualified even by most of those who do not endorse him.
As for Stéphane's other shortcomings, they should not, in my opinion, be seen as disqualifying him from leading our party, because they would not disqualify him from being Prime Minister, which is, after all, what we ultimately want our leader to be. His imperfect English is no more so than Jean Chrétien's - and his French is certainly better. Nore is it worse than the French of other candidates, except Bob Rae, and maybe Ignatieff, or than Stephen Harper's. His lack of charisma is, again, comparable to Harper's... and he IS passionate about what he is doing. It just takes a few minutes to notice. When the new Liberal leader is elected, I assume the voters will take some time to make up their minds on him (or her). So they should notice. A related point is Stéphane's lack of mastery of the "soundbite". I'm not sure it is necessarily a bad thing. And if it is, it can probably, to some extent, be made up for.
No other candidate can, on the other hand, make up for Stéphane's decade-long loyal and unwavering service to the Liberal party and to Canada. He tackled the toughest assignments and succeeded when everyone expected him to fail, both on national unity and on the environment. He didn't retreat in the face of the separatists' ad hominem attacks, or of the best efforts of countries opposed to Kyoto to derail the Montreal climate-change conference. On separatism especially, he convinced those who doubted, and made the fanatics show their fanaticism. That last point is important, because the Liberal Party needs a leader who will show that Stephen Harper and his party and not centre-right moderates they claim to be while using Republican-like tactics to advance far-right policies.
Before ending this already too long post, I would like quickly to raise a couple of further points. First, Stéphane Dion, of all the candidates, is the one who has given the most specific policy proposals. To give just one example, he has a plan on equalisation, and has given its details at the Leadership Forum last weekend, unlike other candidates. Second, He has the integrity required not to use the "I-wrap-myself-in-the flag" rhetoric - even though he would certainly be more entitled to do it than Michael Ignatieff, or probably just about any Canadian politician.
In short, I support Stéhpane Dion because he is much more than any other candidate, Prime Minister material. He has the substance, integrity and courage to lead our country. We should not pass up the opportunity to chose him to lead our party.
I am well aware of Dion's weaknesses. His English is imperfect. He has little charisma, if any. He is perceived as too serious/not entertaining enough - he is not the master of the ever-diminishing-number-of-seconds-sound-bite. And, although I wouldn't say it's his weakness, but rather that of those who believe this, there is a part of the party that has an anybody-but-a-Quebecker attitude to the leadership contest. That such attitudes exist is, I think, a shame, because they bar consideration of a candidate who is seen as one of the most qualified even by most of those who do not endorse him.
As for Stéphane's other shortcomings, they should not, in my opinion, be seen as disqualifying him from leading our party, because they would not disqualify him from being Prime Minister, which is, after all, what we ultimately want our leader to be. His imperfect English is no more so than Jean Chrétien's - and his French is certainly better. Nore is it worse than the French of other candidates, except Bob Rae, and maybe Ignatieff, or than Stephen Harper's. His lack of charisma is, again, comparable to Harper's... and he IS passionate about what he is doing. It just takes a few minutes to notice. When the new Liberal leader is elected, I assume the voters will take some time to make up their minds on him (or her). So they should notice. A related point is Stéphane's lack of mastery of the "soundbite". I'm not sure it is necessarily a bad thing. And if it is, it can probably, to some extent, be made up for.
No other candidate can, on the other hand, make up for Stéphane's decade-long loyal and unwavering service to the Liberal party and to Canada. He tackled the toughest assignments and succeeded when everyone expected him to fail, both on national unity and on the environment. He didn't retreat in the face of the separatists' ad hominem attacks, or of the best efforts of countries opposed to Kyoto to derail the Montreal climate-change conference. On separatism especially, he convinced those who doubted, and made the fanatics show their fanaticism. That last point is important, because the Liberal Party needs a leader who will show that Stephen Harper and his party and not centre-right moderates they claim to be while using Republican-like tactics to advance far-right policies.
Before ending this already too long post, I would like quickly to raise a couple of further points. First, Stéphane Dion, of all the candidates, is the one who has given the most specific policy proposals. To give just one example, he has a plan on equalisation, and has given its details at the Leadership Forum last weekend, unlike other candidates. Second, He has the integrity required not to use the "I-wrap-myself-in-the flag" rhetoric - even though he would certainly be more entitled to do it than Michael Ignatieff, or probably just about any Canadian politician.
In short, I support Stéhpane Dion because he is much more than any other candidate, Prime Minister material. He has the substance, integrity and courage to lead our country. We should not pass up the opportunity to chose him to lead our party.
posted by Leonid at 21:08
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