Bob Rae is thinking thoughts too…

So as we’re all aware, little Bobby and little Mikey were roommates once upon a time in their heady days of continuing ivy league education. During these years of marvel and innocence, little Bobby got to see little Mikey in his finest form, and the forging of his personality and beliefs and all the wondrous assortment of personal idiosyncrasies that go with it.

What little Bobby couldn’t have known at that time, was that Mikey was teaching him everything Bobby was going to need to know about supplanting him as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Fast forward to 2008/2009. Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff, both much older and presumably (?) wiser are squaring off against one another for the second time for the Leadership of the Liberals. A sudden realization hits as little Bobby’s memories burble to the surface. Little Bobby knew what little Mikey was, and how to work the gears and levers of the mechanical Michael to show that to the Liberals and Canadians. Sure, he allowed his hackles to rise a bit in the last battle where he was baited successfully by his opponents to give it a real shot, but not this time. No sir.

This time, older Bob would use lessons learned by little Bobby. Through something akin to “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, Bob Rae decided to take the patient road and allow Michael to do all the work necessary for him to take the Leadership.

So Bob Rae graciously backed down from the Leadership Race and chose to stroke Michael’s ego as only he knew how to. Over the course of the following year and more, Bob would quietly push Michael’s buttons to achieve the desired performance, and whisper words that would achieve the desired statements. He would conscientiously ‘tut-tut’ those who argued the anointment of Michael, and by doing so, paint himself in their sub-conscious as being the one more concerned about the welfare of the party and serving the “party” before the serving the “man”, as opposed to the glory-hound and elitist, self-absorbed snob that was little Mikey all grown up.

Bob Rae will continue to allow Micheal Ignatieff to destroy himself in the eyes of the party and Canadians so that when the time comes when Michael either chooses to step down and return to Harvard, or is so utterly destroyed in an election that he must leave, Bob will appear to be the calm, reasonable and affable Leader of the Liberals that Canadians are looking for.

Food for thinking thoughts….