There was an interesting (and much better written) column in the Star yesterday which discusses pretty much everything I discussed in my post of the same day; Dion’s ineffectiveness, Liberal disorganization, Harper’s relatively-free reign of the public debate, etc. Ironically, the author thinks that this is the time for silence. He suggests that Dion can use this time to regroup and let Harper catch some heat in the spotlight. This argument relies on two assumptions: that Harper will look bad in the public eye when this is all said and done, and subsequently lose support; and that time away from the spotlight will help Dion and the Liberals.
I can certainly see how he could draw that conclusion, but I believe that this is a case where the media is perhaps having trouble seperating itself from the public. Regardless of stagnating opinion polls, the Harperites are generally well received by the voting public. Harper is an unqualified stiff, a control freak who detests the media and has no use for democracy’s traditional processes… but nobody cares about that because the average person cares about two things: the government services they receive and the taxes they pay to run them. Since federal funding is harder to trace to individual programs and services he has been able to reduce taxes while cutting funding in a way that avoids directly alienating the majority voting public, who only cares about the services that they use. Unless this inquiry demonstrates that the Conservatives played a roll in the government being swindled, Harper will come out of this looking like he always does; a schmuck… but a schmuck that nobody has been able to link to any financial impropriety.
The media (or perhaps this lone columnist) is falling into a classic trap; thinking that how the media sees someone is how the public sees them. The fact that Harper has managed to hold enough support to prop up his minority is proof enough that there is a clear disconnect between the two: Harper looks awful in the press (for which he is largely responsible) and yet people have a grudging if content opinion of him.
I am also unconvinced that introspection and quiet are what’s needed to salve the Liberals’ wounds. I don’t have a great deal of insight into the backroom goings-on, but malaise seems to be the biggest problem, and a leader who takes action and motivates his followers is always the best cure for that ailment. Dion should pounce on this opportunity, and hammer away at Harper as much as circumstance and ethics allow. That is how he will make his name as a leader, and that’s how the Liberal Party will begin to come together.