Leadership and Liberals

In the Saturday Dec. 2, 2006 edition of CNEWS, Alexander Panetta reported on Jean Chretien’s comments regarding Paul Martin’s leadership. In my opinion, they are very telling of the Liberal Party philosophy, and its raison d’etre. It is the reason I will never vote for them. It is the reason why I view the voters of the Liberal-loving city of Toronto with disdain and contempt, and it’s the reason why I fear for Canada if they gain power again any time soon.

To quote: “Chrétien was asked who he was pulling for. ‘A good leader,’ he replied. He was asked: What characterizes a good leader? ‘One who wins elections.’”

That, my fellow Canadians, is the total “vision” of Canada you get when you elect a Liberal government. Their “vision” is that they want to be back in power. Period. To win. Nothing more.

Look at the current “top” crop of four contenders, one of whom will be chosen by tonight as, potentially, our next Prime
Minister.

A failed … REALLY failed socialist premier of Ontario, who now says he didn’t mean any of it, and he’s no longer a socialist. Riiiight. Don’t forget, this guy inspired Ontarians to vote massively …. twice, for Mike Harris as a moderate, “common sense” alternative. He nearly bankrupted us. I don’t believe for a minute that this leopard has changed its spots. Elect this guy Prime Minister, and we will all ride a very bumpy slide down to third world status as real entrepreneurial business flees for greener pastures.

Yet it’s scary to think that the Liberals might very well pick this guy, only because they have to pick someone, and they may think he has the best chance of this sorry bunch to win. They’ll risk “Cuba North” for all of us in order to get it.

Secondly a wayward professor who hasn’t even lived in Canada in over 30 years, and who has shown a penchant for condescension, verbosity, and the quickly-adapted ability (required Liberal trait) to change direction 180 degrees if espousing his true feelings and beliefs appears to make him unwinnable. They’ll all say and/or do anything …

Third, yet another Quebecer, and one from the Chrétien cabinet to boot. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about enough of this scene for one lifetime. Do we really want or need more of it? I do not believe a single word from any of them that they didn’t know what was going on in the sponsorship scandal. They were all so happy to be winning, it didn’t matter what it took, and those not directly involved obviously didn’t want to ask, or look too deeply.

Finally a union-placating food bank champion who moved from one socialist enclave (Winnipeg) to another (Toronto) and finally into politics. In my opinion, his “business plan” (hah!) will be robbing Peter to pay Paul, and rewarding Paul so handsomely and making him so dependant on the gravy train that he can count on Paul’s support in perpetuity. This option (along with option #1) will chase jobs and entrepreneurs so far out of Canada we’ll never recover in my lifetime.
If you liked Ontario’s downward-spiraling tax and spend economies under McGuinty and Rae, you’ll definitely love Canada under Kennedy or Rae in my opinion.

So “NONE OF THE ABOVE” is my choice for Liberal leader. That this sad assortment of wannabes is the best they can do tells me volumes about their unfitness to lead. I think the toilet needs to be flushed one or two (or three?) more times before we can even begin to think about giving this soulless party another kick at the can. The only remotely attractive/competent leader (to me) from that side is Frank McKenna, and tellingly, he wanted nothing to do with this three-ring circus.

Jean Chretien’s brutally frank definition of a “good leader” as one who wins elections is sickening to me. It’s disgusting. It’s nauseating. And it’s the reason why Canadians despise politicians so much. It is completely and utterly devoid of any of the right reasons anyone should want to go into politics.

I believe that in his small warped little political world, it’s all about them, and very little to do with us. We are only important in that we are necessary every four years to keep them there. “Policy” and promises are little more than necessary tools required to be made up and then cast aside in order to get elected and stay there. And vision and principles are nothing more than targets to vilify in your opponents. The “party” and “winning” is what it’s all about to them.

In my personal opinion, Jean Chretien’s 40 years in politics, rather than being celebrated, should be held up in disgust to every Political Science 101 class as the poster child example of why Canada should have term limits.

Famed U.S. General, H. Norman Schwarzkopf, defined leadership much differently. “Leadership is Character and Competence. If you can only have one of these, it has to be Character.”

The Liberal record is clear over the past 13 years. Based on this definition, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about the whole lot of them.