That old Beatles song seems to sum up the wishes of the new Liberal leader Stéphane Dion these days. And fortunately for Dion, it seems to be the same tune his former leadership rivals are singing as well.
Dion, Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy, Scott Bryson, and Martha Hall Findlay all presented themselves to the media this afternoon at the Sheraton Centre across the road from Toronto City Hall.To a person, they all appeared to be getting along relatively well, which is no small feat considering the emotional roller coaster they have all just been through."You can't let your disappointment (over losing the convention) take over your life," Rae told a small group of us in an impromptu scrum after the news conference was over."And he reached out right away," he added, referring to the new leader.Dion has moved quickly and (many have observed) effectively to put the wounds of the leadership convention behind him and his party.More often than not, the post-convention push for unity falls flat on its face, because either the winner seems incapable of reaching out to those he defeated, or the losers are in no hurry to ratify what the convention has decided.Think of Joe Clark (both times), Kim Campbell, John Turner, Paul Martin, or Stockwell Day, and you've got all the examples you need of how parties don't come together, even when the new leader wins by a huge margin.
Dion only won by the traditional 55 to 45 percent margin, but already seems to have convinced his former opponents to buy into the new reality of his leadership.His Toronto visit today made official what has been rumoured for a few days now, namely that Bob Rae and Scott Bryson are the new platform development co-chairs, Martha Hall Findlay is in charge of outreach, and Gerard Kennedy has the unspecific but clearly prime position of "special advisor for election readiness."We also learned another thing: Hall Findlay's and Kennedy's jobs are paying positions. Hall Findlay quit her consulting job 10 months ago to run for the leadership. Kennedy likewise quit his cabinet minister's job at Queen's Park. They are both now on the payroll.As for Bob Rae, he confirmed he had never left the Goodmans law firm, even while a candidate for the leadership.
There are still some things not completely resolved. The three unelected former leadership hopefuls still haven't figured out where they're going to run, something they need to attend to in relatively short order, given the precarious status of this minority government. An election could be a matter of a few months away."I don't want an election," Dion said today. "The people don't want an election in the winter time. But I need to be ready."The other thing is, I'm listening carefully to how Bob Rae answers the questions around his own political future and unlike Michael Ignatieff, who has categorically said to his supporters "I'm not going anywhere," Rae has left himself a massive amount of wiggle room NOT to run in the next election.
"That's the plan," Rae continues to say when asked if he'll be running. "I continue to be ready to serve." I don't begrudge Rae's desire to be a tad non-committal on his future. After all, his leadership loss must have been a serious blow, given so many pre-convention predictions that he'd win. But he cannot be surprised if people continue to ask him about his future, given the wiggle room he continues to give himself.There continues to be evidence that Dion hasn't completely got this leadership thing all figured out. He began one of his answers today by saying, "If I am…" then stopped himself and started again. "WHEN I am elected prime minister…."Everyone laughed. There were also some smirks when Dion muffed the original announcement. He got Hall Findlay's job wrong before correcting himself.