Goodbye Mr. Dion, not soon enough

This was Rex Murphy's column on Saturday: Mr. Dion, buried alive

I am somewhat surprised by the column only because Mr. Murphy is normally a bit more caustic about his subjects, but has seemed to save that for the Prime Minister Stephen Harper. On the other hand, I'm not surprised as he is pretty consistent with his disdain for the PM.

You could not have had two more different leaders running - actually five, but the focus continues to be on the two "big" parties. (No offense meant to my friends who support the NDP or Green parties - none of my friends are Bloc Quebecois supporters so if you're offended, oh well.) Both are remarkably smart but one, Dion is an "absent minded professor" type who was characterized as a bumbling idiot who could barely get out a sentence in English and then blamed it on a learning disability. Are you serious? The other, Harper, is portrayed as a cold, shifty, secretive, unfeeling, borderline evil despot who will force Canada to follow in the economic wake of the US financial disaster. One is totally ruled by his emotions; the other is a robot.

To me it was obvious, from the minute Dion was chosen as the leader of the Liberal party, that they would get spanked should there be an election call. They were. The worst electoral showing since Confederation (1867). It was a disaster. A complete disaster.

It was a given that he would have to resign. A press conference was called for Monday. Mr. Dion had the option of resigning as the leader of the Liberal party and stepping away from his post as our system is designed that there can be an interim leader appointed, someone not interested in the position long term, until a new leader can be selected at the Liberal Convention in May.

Dion announced his resignation ... in May. He will leave when there is a new official leader. He will continue to represent his party, bumbling and fumbling in Parliament, for the next six months. His mandate was clear: leave. Again, he is not perceptive enough to realize the damage he is doing to his party because it is clearly about him and his ego. Hey buddy deal with the defeat and go get your university job back. I'm sure you're a great intellectual. A great academic. You are not a great politician.

Dion is receiving bad advice, or maybe he's receiving good advice and ignoring it.