Et Tu, Iggy?

No, no; not "you too" but "particularly you". As in what took so long? We know, we know, the undercurrent was always there, ready to raise itself above the stream of patient assent. The stalwart and committed supporter. Guess the time was ripe. After all, those by-elections that brought a major rival directly onto the scene was the propellant. Beat him to it, didn't you? As everyone knows, though, Bob Rae cannot be too far behind.

Guess he and his legion of impassioned supporters are already in the throes of planning a major social event to bring out the corporate heads, the moneyed set, wooing them for their support. His subversive campaign will receive ample support, just as yours has. The question here is which, between you two, can amass the greater support? Two years, after all, is enough time. Point made. It was an unfortunate fluke.

You've been adept in furnishing the veneer of staunch support to someone who has proven, as you both knew he would, to be inadequate to the task at hand. An unfortunately already-submerged-in-misery Liberal party, sunk even deeper into the morass of disadvantage. Professorial intellect just doesn't cut it, in and of itself. Without that indelible spark of charisma, that ability to alert the public to possibilities and potentials.

The Royal York hotel as good a venue as any for your coming-out ball, Michael Ignatieff. The pretence is slowly evaporating, but not soon enough, right? What a glittering event with all the political cognoscenti, the movers and shakers, the committed and the yet-to-be-committed. Mind if I ask an admittedly naive question? Just wondering, after all.

When the invitations went out, was one handed, on a silver salver, to your ever-so-earnest leader? And the friend and colleague of your youth, did one go out to him as well? At the risk of seeming repetitive; just asking.

Here comes the clash of the cerebral titans. First number of introductory scenes between yourself and your rival. With poor Stephane Dion lingering on the edges, wondering what went wrong. He has all the answers, after all. The solutions to all the problems, right at his fingertips. He is morally unassailable, but politically disadvantaged. And when the dust finally settles and the choice has been made (yawn), then comes the fun.

Not necessarily the verbal and intellectual sparring between you and Bob, but later, between either you or Bob, and Stephen. That's when the sparks will fly. That's when the public will really sit up and take notice.