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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ignatieff should take risks, but learn to be a politician first
The Globe & Mail is presenting a case that Micheal Ignatieff needs to take more risks if he wants to reverse the polls. The article reports that a pollster believes that the Liberals need to create "buzz" with their policy and come up with "wedge" issues. Something like a carbon tax perhaps?
The problem is that Mr. Ignatieff has a tendency to enter into a too honest debate about policy. He suggested once that perhaps raised or new taxes would be needed to fight the deficit. This is a legitimate policy view (though one that I would argue against in the strongest terms), but it is not a view that a self interested politician should express off the cuff.
Mr. Ignatieff has spent his life in academics where no idea is too bizarre to be discussed. He is unused to Kim Campbell's wise dictum regarding elections and serious issues. Yet he has to learn to be able to enter into the policy debate without shooting himself in the foot. He has to be willing to take policy positions not as an academic would, but as a politician would.
That is, he has to learn to take on policies that would win him votes and be a little less intellectually honest. Then he can start taking the appropriate risks.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 13, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
He is unused to Kim Campbell's wise dictum regarding elections and serious issues.
You're too kind. More likely unaware as he was living outside the country at the time.
Posted by: Steve | 2009-10-13 1:42:55 PM
Does Iggy believe in any policies that are (1) contrary to those practiced by the Conservatives, (2) buzz-worthy, and (3) popular?
"Mr. Ignatieff has spent his life in academics where no idea is too bizarre to be discussed."
No kidding.
Posted by: Ashley | 2009-10-13 4:35:38 PM
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