Breaking it up, and Picking Up the Pieces

The Globe has an interesting article today contrasting the performance of Gerard Kennedy and Stephane Dion at the debate, where they say the two neck-and-neck candidates adopted completely opposite strategies. They're bang on.

Dion was hard hitting, and even when on the defensive he was on the attack. He clearly wanted to score points off Bob and Iggy, and I thank he did a good job of it. I enjoyed his performance, but then again I'm a litigator.

Gerard Kennedy on the other hand refused to attack any of his opponents (outside of a joke reference to Bob's revealing appearance on Mercer) and, as some commentators have noted, he almost completely escaped scathing attack himself.

I think that Iggy, and to a lesser extent Bob, are indeed polarizing figures within the party. Dion seemed to be trying to establish his own pole. Gerard showed that he can be passionate without attacking his fellow liberals. He also showed that the strategy is intrinsically successful: he wasn't attacked by the other candidates, and there will be no wounds to heal when he asks them for their support in the second and third rounds.

I believe the party needs to heal old wounds, and unify under a candidate that stands for genuine renewal. The only candidate that showed he could accomplish those objectives was Gerard Kennedy.