Revolutionary Moderation

If you haven't heard:



Yes, I understand Paul Martin is the leader of the Liberal party now. Seriously, wake me up when he's Prime Minister.



If you're interested in actual commentary, may I suggest Warren Kinsella once more, since he's actually at the game? I'd add him to my "fine bloggers" list, but then I'd have to drop the smarmy line about Americans --- plus, you know, he's a Chretien Liberal, and I'm a Nystrom New Democrat. We're like night and, well, night and dusk, I suppose. And not a really dark night, either - more of a nearly-full-moonlit night. And pretty late dusk - I'd have your headlights on, if I were you. Fine - I'll think about it.



If Chretien ever leaves, I'll miss him. Specifically, I'll miss his last year, when he finally made some serious social policy progress. I won't miss the Prime Minister who signed off on the Canada Health and Social Transfer and raised the bar on EI qualifications in order to balance the budget, or who reduced capital gains taxes instead of returning levels of service when surpluses started to appear. (Of course, I won't miss that finance minister, either.) I won't miss the Prime Minister who had a deer-in-headlights aura during the entire Quebec referendum. I won't miss the Prime Minister who was so dismissive of APEC protesters and soldiers who served in Somalia that he was satisfied to simply let the related inquiries peter out without conclusion (or so my shaky memory seems to recall). But I'll miss the Prime Minister who reasserted Canada's sovergnty without turning Canada insular, who said "no" to the United States about invading Iraq but just as importantly "yes" on Afghanistan, and who took important steps to extend the reach of personal liberties (in all the hubbub about gay marriage, it's easy to forget how unthinkable this would have been ten years ago, given the state of gay rights at the beginning of the Prime Minister's tenure).



In other words, it's a mixed bag. Just like every Prime Minister before him. Just like Paul Martin will be. A hard-fought leadership campaign might have given us a peek into Martin's bag, but as it turns out, we'll just have to wait. So, as I say - wake me up when he's Prime Minister.



Edited because Rwanda and Somalia are completely different places. Thus is confirmed the alluded-to shaky memory.