The Youngest Old Man in the Liberal Party

The Ottawa Citizen's Sue Riley looks at Justin Trudeau and sees the youngest old man in a Liberal Party full of old men.

...The Liberal leadership hopeful's much-anticipated launch speech last week was disappointingly banal. He ran through the familiar Liberal checklist: a nod to strength in diversity, the Charter of Rights, Quebec's central role, First Nations poverty and so on.

Overall, the speech contained not one fresh idea or memorable quote, although the former high school drama teacher strove mightily to impart depth, quoting his father, who was quoting Paul to the Corinthians, about putting away "childish things."

...You can almost hear the old guys whispering in his ear: The middle class is a big, big constituency! Lots of votes! Trudeau's bold new pitch looks more like cynical political positioning.

Trudeau is, undeniably, personable, well-intentioned, attractive and connected. He can easily captivate a curious crowd with his impassioned stump speech. But new ideas? You'll hear more fresh thinking standing in a coffee line with Green party leader Elizabeth May, 58, for 15 minutes.

...stamina and glamour aren't enough. Trudeau needs content and experience. He needs more than a fashionable concern for the environment; he needs to unambiguously oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline and offer an alternative.

...The political old guard can be complacent and arrogant, of course - they, after all, ruined the brand. But we should be wary of misty-eyed romanticism about a new generation.

Public life isn't going to improve if young politicians continue to embrace the narrow range of topics, timid policy prescriptions and poisonous rhetoric of their elders. That isn't change, no matter how contemporary the wrapping.

Riley's op-ed is in much the same vein as my previous post about establishment politicians governing to preserve and secure the status quo indifferent to the punishing costs and dangers they're bequeathing to the young and the generations to follow them.   With the enormous challenges looming today it is inexcusable for the Liberals and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the New Democrats to ignore them.