Iggy set off a firestorm in recent days over his controversial comments on war crimes on both sides of the recent Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon. If he has a proven habit of putting his foot in it at just the wrong time, well, there was another politician with a similar need to show off his supreme sense of bad taste and poor timing, yes our great leader, Stephen Harper, also got into the action. Oy vey.
When the Conservatives aren't defending Canadians against the corrupting force of minority rights they take a bit of time out to make unfounded and inflammatory remarks about an entire party, who just happen to be the Official Opposition, by wading into one of the most difficult issues in international politics, namely the relationship between Israel and the rest of the Middle East.
Both sides have engaged in spin and re-spin, a few of the other Liberal leadership hopefuls have weighed in (Bob Rae's wife and family are Jewish -- I guess nobody briefed the PM on that one), and the whole issue has, in a further twist, become a chance for Ignatieff to clarify his position on the war in Iraq. Umm...
We now have a hubris-filled minority government, strutting about the halls of power as though granted a clear mandate, which by its very definition a "minority government" does not have. And in the other corner are the Liberals, a party in transition to something more coherent (we hope), but still plagued by many of the old gaffes that led to their fall in the first place.
While this whole affair begins to spend itself, and the initial shock cools, the Harper Conservatives continue to press their irresponsible and insulting domestic agenda designed to sell out Canada's environment, natural resources, minority rights and equality-based social safety net.
I remember a little over a year ago when politics in Ottawa was more soap opera than substance, a drama full of betrayals, courtships and nail-biting votes won or lost on the strength of one little "yea" or "nay". Those days are passed. The stakes are VERY high now, and sadly I'm not sure there are many players left who understand the meaning of "peace, order and good government" or the real responsibility to LEAD, something utterly needed if Canada is to keep from slipping into the oblivion of the ranks of unimpressive middle-powers by becoming a handmaid to reactionary foreign policy while ignoring the mess in our own back yard.
I'm waiting for the miracle to come...
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