The Treacherous Plight of the Liberal Party

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I have to comment on the recent happenings in Parliament. I didn't take the time to comment on the happenings of the Ontario provincial election, partly because I was so confident on the outcome...plus, there wasn't anything really interesting to talk about anyways.
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So, what is Dion going to do? He's in between a rock and hard place. If he supports Harper, he has to give up his principled stance on Afghanistan and Kyoto, and if he doesn't, he has to face the wrath of the Canadian electorate. Personally, I would have like to see him have the courage of his convictions, and despite the troubles in the party at the moment, go for a election (elections tend to unite any party). It's a lose-lose situation for the libs, and Harper is in an enviable position at the moment.

Now, as the Liberals are going to support the budget, they need to do some deep (and quick) soul-searching. They need to find big issues that differentiate them from the Conservatives. This is problematic cause so far Harper has been governing from the centre-right, being on the 'right' side of issues in terms of voter opinion; Canadians are divided on the war in afghanistan, indifferent on kyoto, pro-tax cuts (anti-GST), pro-'tough on crime' approach, etc. Is there room for a clear, principled Liberal position somewhere in the rough?

Afghanistan: Liberals started the mission, and any 'nuanced' position just makes the Libs look more like wafflers.
Kyoto: Libs did indeed sign it, but did very little until Dion became environment minister.
Crime: I 100% agree with the Libs moderate approach to Criminal code amendments. The legal and constitutional implications of many of the Harper amendments are grave. However, as the average Canadian doesn't grasp this, Libs won't succeed in making this a big issue in a prospective election.

So what's left? On most of these issues, you have the Cons on one side, the NDP/Bloc on the other, and the Libs somewhere in the middle...key word 'somewhere', cause we don't know exactly where. That's the problem with the 'middle', it's hard for anyone to grasp.

Now that the Kyoto train is heading out of the station, the Libs are going to have to take a gamble elsewhere. Problem is that Kyoto was Dion's forte; it is probably one of the single reasons why Liberals rallied around him at the convention - he succeeded in single-handledly making the environment the focus of the leadership campaign.

Suggestions?

The Libs need to have a clear position on Afghanistan. That's gonna be tough 'cause the Conservatives don't have one yet, and we need to make sure that ours is different than theirs, right? But that's where principle comes in. Dion needs to say, if I were elected Prime Minister tommorrow, this is what I would do...(i) keep the troops in Afghanistan indefinitely past February 2009, (ii) keep troops past 2009 only in a training role of Afghan soldiers, (iii) withdraw all troops. The specifics (logistics, numbers etc) would have to be elaborated as well. If Canadians, are going to vote for the Liberals, we have to give them a reason to vote for us. We have to not only criticise the government, but offer an alternative.

Secondly, with Kyoto out the window, Liberals need to think of a comprehensive environment package that's better than the status quo and that is realistic, and pragmatic. The Conservatives have yet to capitalise on this issue, and there is room for a moderate, sensible approach to the Government's plan which has been rejected by virtually all environmentalists. We need to offer a better alternative ...which shouldn't be hard.

Those are the two biggest issues, where the Libs could still gain. But it would take bold leadership. We shouldn't wait for the report of the commission that Harper drummed up; we need to transform our principles in policy now, and I think we have sufficient resources to do that. We need to offer a clear vision for this country that is better than what the Conservatives have done thus far.

Dion has to stop sounding like an academic (criticizing and commenting on what the Government is doing) and start sounding like a Prime Minister.

Only then, can the Liberals hope for success...