Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Should He Stay or Should He Go Now

Some Dion supporters are arguing that we should stick with the leader we have because the learning curve for a new leader is long. It's a serious argument. We don't want to deepen the hole we're in with hysterical attempts to change direction.

But. Dion screwed up in such a range of ways. He:

* Continued to be a lackluster public speaker.
* Wasn't able to communicate his flagship policy to Canadians.
* Wasn't prepared for the election.
* Has been unsuccessful at fund raising.
* Didn't have an effective response to Conservative attacks.
* Was slow to get help from experienced Liberals.
* Didn't assuage doubts about his ability to lead Canada in tough economic times.

Polls showed that support for Dion was way behind support for the party. He dragged down the rest of the party. Canadians don't like him and don't trust him. He's had two years to get his act together. If Dion wants to stay, he should give us some reasons to think he'll improve.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If he is wise Dion will step down! I am a Liberal, and in this election, I could not vote Liberal because of Dion.

Anonymous said...

then you are not a liberal

Anonymous said...

Seems to me, Yappa, that you were among those bashing Dion since he won the leadership in 2006. From Day One. So what, pray tell, did you do to help out the party since the leadership or during the recent campaign? Other than criticising from afar, that is.

Yappa said...

To anonymous 11:42 -

I have never been a Dion basher. I have written numerous posts supporting Dion. See, for example, Intelligent, Experienced, Sincere, Passionate, Honest - What's Wrong With That? . My only negative post was Okay, Now I See the Problem, but it was balanced by half a dozen others supporting Dion and criticizing Tory attacks on him.

As for what I did to help the party, I donated generously during the campaign; I worked for my local candidate, making cold calls and then scrutineering on election day; I left numerous comments on online newspaper articles; and I wrote numerous blog posts arguing the Liberal case.

I did all this because I was being a party loyalist. I was never easy with Dion as leader. I kept my misgivings almost entirely to myself because the decision was made and it would only hurt the party to express them. But now is the time for Liberals to voice their opinions on the issue of leadership. It is not only the appropriate time, but it is the time that we should speak out.