Is Michael Ignatieff already a lame duck? So soon?!

An excellent analysis from Steve Janke regarding the recent dustup in Quebec surrounding the power-play between Coderre and Cauchon. Here are some of the key points.

• A lame duck is an elected official who is reaching the end of his run of office. He has little power, and others have no incentive to cooperate with him. Usually, the lame duck knows he's a lame duck, and so avoid potentially humiliating showdowns that he knows he can't win. On the other hand, if he doesn't realize he's a lame duck, he'll walk right into a fight and not realize he's already lost...

• But the trouble in Outremont points to labelling Ignatieff as a lame duck. Ignatieff's Quebec lieutenant Denis Coderre is blocking any attempt by former Liberal justice minister Martin Cauchon to run in Outremont. Cauchon represented that riding for over a decade, and the Liberals are desperate to take the riding back from the NDP in the next election. Instead of Cauchon, Coderre has picked his favourite, politically untested business woman Nathalie le Prohon, to go up against veteran Thomas Mulcair of the NDP. Coderre has already decided to have Michael Ignatieff appoint her to the role of candidate, no nomination contest required.Unseemly, perhaps, but the shocking thing is that we all know about this. Not a single person in this drama has shown the slightest bit of respect for Michael Ignatieff.
  

• Michael Ignatieff made the decision to do what Denis Coderre told him to do, but no one cares. And they're all complaining bitterly...in public!Does anyone care what Michael Ignatieff can do to them as punishment for speaking out in public against a firm decision he has made? Apparently not. To have no fear of contradicting the leader, after he has made his final decision on a subject, is a defining property of a lame duck.

UPDATE!

Former Liberal justice minister Martin Cauchon will get the chance to make a political comeback in his old riding after all.

Party insiders say Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has decided to allow an open nomination contest in the prized Montreal riding of Outremont.

Globe & Mail, Friday Sept 25/09

I swear, sometimes I think Michael Ignatieff is his own worst enemy.