You know I understand to a degree the uncomfortable feeling that some in the NDP may have with their leader at the moment, but what I don’t get is the timing of this attempted putsch.
She did receive an 84 per cent endorsement not more than two weeks ago, certainly not the kind of 99.9 percent of the old Soviet era of leadership reverence, but still clearly a majority.
What’s even more remarkable by the actions of the dissident faction of the moment, is it has managed to take the incompetence and drama of the Campbell exit (whenever it actually takes place) right off the front pages and television newscasts of the province, a gift I’m sure the Liberals are most thankful for.
Instead of letting that mess play out for the next four months, each day another reminder of the arrogance of the last few years of the Liberals, the NDP by setting their own house ablaze have knocked all that Liberal controversy out of the view of British Columbians.
Now personally I imagine that it would have been a hard road ahead for Ms. James anyways, she had yet to really resonate with the would be voters, let their only real winning issue of late the HST debate get hijack by Bill Vander Zalm of all people and clearly is the leader of a party that has way too many factions for its own good.
Still with all that, wouldn’t it have been better to show a sense of cohesion at least until you know who the party will be running against whenever the next election comes around?
I mean the party at the moment appears to be panicking at the thought of ghosts, let alone any actual candidate, imagine the image the Liberals will provide should they actually find a leader that might be acceptable to the province, someone who has managed to stay away from the latest round of Liberal implosion oh lets say a Carole Taylor or even a Christy Clark just to throw two names out, both had clear issues with the Premier it seems, stepped aside, bided their time and now would most likely be the favourites to replace the guy.
Counter that with the image the NDP presents these days and yikes, it’s most likely another four years of opposition when the election comes around.
Even worse, if the current drama continues in its current state of animosity, it could fracture the party into two camps, leaving the thirteen dissidents perhaps cast out, maybe to form their own party in the vision of the NDP they prefer, maybe a more labour oriented option, but one which would dilute the voting pool yet again, leaving the Liberals the opportunity to capitalize on that vote split.
Though the one interesting aspect of this that I read recently was the idea that the left leaning Liberals and those unhappy with the current NDP direction could find common ground in their own party, not likely but an intriguing prospect.
The better strategy for the NDP in my opinion anyways for what its worth and as someone who is more of an Independent minded voter, (ie: no party affiliation of name, I take stock of the candidates at the time of the election and vote accordingly) would have been to wait out the Liberals to see who they have to offer up.
Concentrate on the issues that currently have led to their difficulties and take back the momentum that has been lost to the likes of Mr. Vander Zalm and such.
If that 16 per cent that didn’t support James two weeks ago want to remove her, they need to build up more support rather than the burn down the house approach that seems to be under way.
I imagine when the Liberals pick their new leader they will receive a bounce back in the polls, that would have been the time to launch the attempted leadership review, as the numbers in the polling and the faults that the dissidents believe Ms. James has would be most vulnerable.
The clumsy attempt at the moment is certainly detracting from the thought that the NDP is ready to govern the province, considering the turmoil that the Liberals were in but a short two weeks ago, they probably deserved at least a four year term in opposition to gain a little insight into the wrong paths they too.
But judging by the mess the NDP created for themselves these last few days, the confidence of the voter that they should get the government back is probably dropping pretty quickly.
They may very well be laying the groundwork here to Snatch defeat from what probably should have been a victory.
At any rate a most fascinating little bit of drama for both parties these days, but sheesh anybody keeping their eye on the ball for the folks that actually live in the province and fund the big show in Victoria.
Some interesting columns from Michael Smyth and Vaughn Palmer provide some good insight on all of this.
theprovince.com/news/Michael … story.html
vancouversun.com/news/Willia … story.html
timescolonist.com/news/Mutin … story.html
