Politics A- Plenty

Yes, there's politics a-plenty in both the US and Canada. According to all the media reports I have been sampling, the general consensus is that Barak Obama is outmanouvering Hillary Clinton in the contest for the Democratic nomination. We won't know for sure until all the primaries and caucuses have been held, but the momentum of success in the ten most recent events have given Obama a distinct lead in both delegates and public favour.

Meanwhile here in Canada, Parliament has recessed for a week after putting the Afghanistan issue to rest with a token agreement by the Liberals and the Conservatives that our participation in the UN mandate there will continue until 2011 with some minor changes to the exact deployment of our troops. None is quite sure whether Dion or Harper caved in to the other's proposal, but at least there will not be an election over the issue. OTOH, the budget to be presented Tuesday, Feb, 26, may be cause for a confidence vote by the Liberals bringing about the downfall of the government.

There appears to be a growing consensus that an election this spring would likely make little change in the relative status of the various parties. If so, that will likely result in another Liberal change of leaders as Dion will be forced to resign. Perhaps that might be best for the Liberal Party which needs to find a whole new approach to appear fully recovered from the debacle of the Sponsorship Scandal and the ten year internecine struggle between Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

At least it would be a help to future renewal of the party of the party if someone from Ontario rather than Quebec became the leader. The best bet, IMHO, is Michael Ignatief. He seems to have the least baggage and has shown considerable skill as deputy-leader under Dion. Someone has even suggested that Dalton McGuinty, present premier of Ontario, would be an even better choice, but I doubt that. All that can be said for sure at this stage is wait and see.