Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...

In declaring his candidacy to lead the federal Liberals, Bob Rae claims that he left the NDP because the party had become "too ideological" for him. It appears that Mr. Rae hasn't clued into the fact that everything in politics is ideological. However, he may have also stopped going to church because he thought it was too religious, and perhaps he cancelled his gym membership because he feels exercise is too physical.

As a newly minted Liberal, Rae is attempting to put sowing the seeds of the Common Sense Revolution behind him, and try to position himself as the candidate of the centre. In doing so, he shows he has very little to offer as a national leader. Canadians don't need a strong centrist, the electorate has proven over the past two elections to be centrist enough. We were smart enough to punt the Liberals, but not give Stephen Harper all the keys to the candy store. If Canadians really need someone to huff and puff about how "ideological" the Conservatives are, we can always just go here.

The real leadership comes from the likes of a Jack Layton who can call someone down as good as he can cut a deal with him, and moves the margins towards the middle of the road, just like he did with funding for social programs, education, and Canada's cities in the Martin-era budgets. Is that ideology, or is that just a smart leader taking what the House gives him?

The next leader of the Liberals will more than likely be Leader of the Opposition for some time. Canadians expect the Opposition to come from the other side, not the middle.