Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Opinion Amendment

A couple of weeks ago I questioned the wisdom of having Ignatieff spend a great deal of time "out of Ottawa" this fall. The idea of Ignatieff trying to recapture what was a positive summer in my view, coupled with being outside of the Ottawa glare, made for a risky strategy. However, after seeing what Donolo has unveiled, I'd like to amend my previous concern.

I do like the new branding, the "Open Mike" tour, because it denotes a seperation from the "Liberal Express". Minor in one sense, but keeping things fresh is key, otherwise everyone grows bored and you're left in the wilderness, while Ottawa rages.

What is a much more important point, this idea of Ignatieff in constant contact with the average Canadians. It is this messaging that reveals the Donolo strategy and why I've changed my view. When you hear Ignatieff in interviews now, rather than high minded proclamations, his answers are rooted in what Canadians are saying. It's "what I'm hearing", "if you travel around", "Canadians are clearly saying", which congeals into an overall picture of a person intimately in touch with Canadians. This becomes more important, when you pull back and do the compare and contrast with the Harper approach. Ignatieff just sounds more grounded, concrete, when he references the outside Ottawa perspective, and he does so with real conviction. Whether it's changed Ignatieff, I don't know, but rather than aloof, he has developed a practicality that people will relate to.

There are still pitfalls with this strategy. Whatever the planned tour, I think people should be ready to cancel events at a moment's notice, should serious moments develop in Ottawa. That said, for the first time in a long time, I'm starting to "get it", the Liberals have a layered strategy that works on multiple fronts. Mike it up Michael!

11 comments:

Tof KW said...

It will be curious to observe the stark differences between this 'Open Mike' tour, and this EAP tour that Harper's sending his ministers on ...especially if they cherrypick the questions.

ridenrain said...

Why is he avoiding Parliament? What is he afraid of?

Steve V said...

KW

That should be a nice contrast.


Riden

Wow, that was really lame, even by your high standards.

marie said...

Why is he avoiding Parliament? What is he afraid of?

I would say ask that same question to your cult master if you can even believe anything the dictor utters. His nose is getting longer daily and maybe you should check your own while your at it.

Steve V said...

Is there anything more pathetic than a conbot asking what Ignatieff is afraid of, when his leader hasn't taken ONE unscripted question since he took office? Harper the coward was so afraid of Canadians, he refused to go on the CBC last election if he had to answer ONE question from a voter. Ivison's column today calls him the most scripted, tightly managed PM in history, and yet hidenbrain here has the temerity to ask this question. LOL.

ridenrain said...

Pardon but I read much from the CBC so I'm picking up the "gotcha" questions.

Take a look at How'd the vote.ca

Most absent:
#1 Jean-Yves Roy
#2 Michael Ignatieff
#3 Helena Guergis

Did you think no one would notice?

Jerry Prager said...

I think he's hitting his stride, and not just because he's touched base with Canadians, but because in touching base, he has taken his own epic Canadian family story, and made himself real to himself in a way he never was before: in a sense I think Michael is starting to get who he is within his own personal narrative. I don't think Canada has ever had anyone with Ignatieff's personal connections to so much of our national history, run for office.
Ridenrain, hiding, avoiding, he just threw Team Harper to the dust in their united whipped frenzy over their NRA gun crazed faux libertarian lunacy, and it's going to keep happening, even if Harper appoints every journalist in the con battery of Iggy batterers to the Senate...
The TexAlberta coup is about to be overthrown by a majority coalition of Canadian Voters.

Steve V said...

That's the sense I'm getting as well. Coyne had the best word I thought, when said Ignatieff seems more "authentic".

ridenrain said...

2 votes is thrown to the dust? How the mighty have fallen inded.
Good luck with that National Energy Program Mk2.

Jerry Prager said...

Ridenrain, Harper was never mighty, he was always a craven Wormtongue, his soul twisted by the dark deals he made for power. All those liesd about democracy and transparency and accountability, he's just another sawdust Mussolini with plans of nation governed by fear and filled with prisons for protesters.

Gene Rayburn said...

Jerry, ridofbrain is essentially a walking clothesrack. Never had the brains or guts to back his stuff up with proof. Just thinks he's regurgitating his talking points in a clever fashion. Funny thing is he usually bumbles them so bad he comes off looking like.... well.... ridofbrain.