Friday, June 6, 2008

Grits are frittering their lead away

Published Friday June 6th, 2008
Telegraph-Journal
MARTY KLINKENBERG
At the legislature


Months of stumbling, obfuscating and ruling by condescension seems to have finally caught up with the Liberals. A poll released this week indicates that their popularity is waning, and that's not a good sign for a government operating against an Opposition with a lame duck ruling the roost.

The interim-led Tories have done precious little to gain in popularity on their own, but they haven't had to. All they have had to do is show up at the legislature, and let the Liberals try to re-invent every wheel ever made -- regardless of whether it needs fixing or not.

Political parties have a tendency to dismiss polls that don't tell them exactly what they want to hear, but in this case, it would serve the Liberals well to look at the falling numbers and seriously contemplate whether changes should be made. ...

Cabinet ministers are getting regularly heckled as a result of the party's unpopular initiatives ...

It doesn't seem to matter how many people complain, nor how loud, and that is the root of the Liberals' problem. Arrogance isn't bliss, it is political suicide.

This is how poorly things are going for them: after cancelling public hearings, limiting public input and ignoring public outcry, they spent $100,000 recently to better learn how to "engage" the public. ...

The public has not bought into the elimination of early French immersion, and is waiting to pounce on the government's belated and much-awaited plan for post-secondary education. They are angry over health care issues, sylviculture, uranium mining, and taxes. ...

In some cases, if the public is so opposed, the Liberals should re-examine the direction they are going. On top of that, they should stop acting as if they know it all, and start listening to the people who actually elected them.

Ignorance isn't bliss. It is the road to political ruin.

Click here to link to full article.

No comments: