Stronach out of race!

Belinda Stronach officially announced that she will not participate in the Liberal Leadership Race. She said, "I think I'm less restricted as a member of Parliament to speak about renewal from the grassroots up." WOW. I don't know if I should really give my personal comments on her reasoning, as it might anger some. However, I know there are some devout Uncle J Book of Queries readers out there, so I must entice them...at least a wee little bit. One question: Isn't that what a leadership campaign is all about? Spreading your ideas of renewal, mobilizing the grassroots? To me, she would be in a good position to that as a leadership candidate. As for as I'm concerned, the reasons she gave were simply a pretext (i.e. lack of organization, lack of fluency in French, lack of well-developed platform). Kinda like when Bush went to Iraq, saying it was for weapons of mass destruction, when it really was for oil [Disclaimer: In no way do I think that Stronach is anything like Bush].

On the positive side, I think this is a good thing for Stronach: this will give her some time to develop some policy, and vision for this country, and come back at it the next time around. She's only 40, so she has a lot of time ahead of her. Why embarrass herself in a leadership campaign filled with intellectuals like Iggy and Dion? Not to say, she's not an intelligent; she was the CEO of the second largest auto parts company in the world...you can't be stupid to do that. However, as shown in her Conservative leadership bid, she's been caught in a sort of policy vaccuum. I challenge anyone to submit one new idea, policy that Belinda's brought forward since she's been in politics... i'm still thinking.

Long and short: I simply don't know if Stronach's move is good or bad for the Race -- it depends which perspective you take.

Comments welcome,

Uncle J