You Need to Set the Bar High This Time

For the Liberal Party this is no time to settle for a pretty face or a familiar name.   You're already in the hole, neck deep to be honest, and one more mistake could be your last for a good long time.

If you want to remain Stephen Harper's water carrier, faithful assistants in his prime directive to shift Canada's political centre out to the right, then you may as well erode to political nothingness.  That's the course charted by the last non-performer, the one who got your party politically court-martialed and cashiered.

Since Harper weaseled his way into office the Libs' hapless response has been to wait for him to self-destruct and then be swept back into power by a repentant electorate.   But Harper was too smart for that.   He never let up.   He kept attacking the Liberals and their leaders.   He was relentless and he prevailed.   So successful was Harper that Layton played the same game with the same results.   Mauled into irrelevance, the Libs fell catatonic, capable of little beyond mumbling about funding for the arts and daycare, until their support atrophied to just their legacy vote.

The NDP always understood the Liberal "sweet spot" at the centre and Layton knew the IgLibs were too (your adjective here) to hold it.   So, as the IgLibs transformed the party into conservative-lite, the NDP shed its socialist skin to become the new liberal party.

At this point you Libs don't need a pretty face, you don't need a celebrity, you need someone to fight your way out of a very deep hole both your opponents are committed to keeping you in.    That means fighting Harper and it means fighting even harder against Mulcair.  Bugger this, "get Harper" business you'll hear from the NDP.  After their years of chicanery in helping Harper get into office and then helping him to his majority, that business about concentrating on Harper doesn't lie in their mouths.  Besides, as Layton knew, the way forward demands you stomp them back into third place.   You can't get into first without taking back second.

So get yourself a leader, one who knows how to fight.   Get yourself a leader who knows the way back runs first straight through the NDP.   Set the bar high.   This may be your last chance for an awfully long time if you don't.