So this is 2009

Ah, new year, what do you have in store for me?
Another election? Probably.
Oh, and here’s my take on the Ignatieff leadership: Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy and the rest of the contenders didn’t so much step aside to allow the coronation of Iggy as they did suspend their campaigning for now. By letting Ignatieff take the interim leadership, they’re also letting him be the guy who has to deal with Harper, the economy, the post-prorogue Parliament, and the snow. Then in May, when everything’s warm and sunny, they’ll be back, armed with new ammunition based on Iggy’s mishandling of all of the above.
Of course, this strategy assumes he will, in fact, mishandle things. This is not an altogether preposterous assumption – after all, this is the guy who thinks we can finally deal with the whole constitution crisis thingie once and for all, and move on. Frankly, only a guy who hasn’t lived in the country and hasn’t been paying attention can make a broad statement like that with a straight face.
I’m willing to give Iggy a chance, really, because he scares me less than Harper, and these days Layton comes across as the creepy uncle who keeps asking you to sit on his knee at the family reunion. Having said that, there are several obstacles to overcome:
1. Harper is still, technically, in power
2. No one seems to really like Ignatieff
3. We’re all sick to death of elections and campaigning
4. We’re all more interested in Obama than our own government, and all these crises are a little distracting
5. The media don’t seem to like Iggy, as evidenced by the fact that they keep posting the worst possible photos of him
6. His name – no one seems completely sure how to spell it, and I have yet to hear it pronounced the same way twice
7. His background – we are fine with Russian aristocracy in an abstract way, but do we really want to live through years of headlines about Count Canuck or Czar Iggy?
8. Eyebrows. They didn’t help Dukakis, either.

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