A week after a poor showing in the election, Liberal leader Stephane Dion has announced that he will be stepping down after a new lamb leader has been found. From the Sun:

“I failed,” Dion told reporters. “In my consultations it became very clear, that in the door-to-door canvassing, my colleagues, my friends were told, ‘We don’t like your leader.'”

No matter my opinion on the debacle, I can’t help but feel for him today. Those words must have been pretty difficult to say to a national audience. Quite sad, really. I’ve heard many armchair pundits argue that his personal brand was weak and therefore he should never have ascended to the leadership in the first place. I’d rather not agree, though I do.

Dion is clearly a smart guy and his handle on environmental issues was the best we’d ever seen in a national candidate for any party (save the Greens). Just 26% of voters thought he was who we Canadians needed most at this moment in our history. But in the 21st century, as much if not more than in the 20th, I suspect the electorate is more into gelling with personalities and swallowing tailored sound bytes than hearing hard truths or looking beyond the suit to see a platform. When viewed through this unfortunate prism, yes, there’s no denying that he was a complete disaster, about as electable as Dennis Kucinich or a bucket of tomato juice. But Dion’s personality isn’t to blame for his failure. Whether or not you agree that he suffers a charm deficit, such a shortcoming shouldn’t decide an election.

Maybe he should blame the media, as most failed candidates so often do. Though nowhere near as bad as the American press, our fifth estate feeds the vacuity beast by doing a pretty piss poor job breaking through the PR clutter and spin, reporting on the largely inconsequential rather than the concrete. They provide us, the public, with broad strokes of a whiffle brush instead of details. It would be convenient for him to blame them, but doing so would only feed the beast an extra course.

In the end, I think, Dion in his heart of hearts is blaming us, and regardless of our personal politics perhaps he should. When people lap straight bullshit up and gloss over the issues in order to get a “feel” for the candidate, they get the leaders they deserve. Until we grow up, Dion might be thinking to himself tonight, Harper is who we deserve. And of course he’s right.

And now the party goes into “picking up the pieces” overdrive. The list of replacements for Dion being tossed around is pretty weak (Manley, McKenna, Rae, Ignatieff, etc), all of whom aren’t nearly telegenic enough. None of the names are fresh or represent a new route forward for the Liberals, so there’s a fair chance they’d all share the same fate as Dion.

Scoff you might, but that’s where we now: beholden to a political system that depends on a pablum-loving public for the margin of victory. Unfortunately for them, the Liberals have no Obama waiting in the wings.

On second thought, maybe they do.

Keep your chin up, Dion. I didn’t vote for you, but it wasn’t because you weren’t pretty, wore ugly scarves, or sounded like an effete goof. I was actually watching reruns of the West Wing, and couldn’t be bothered.

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