On weak defences

If there were any doubt as to whether or not Gordon O'Connor is in trouble, the Star reports on what he can expect when Parliament sits next week. And while it shouldn't be much surprise that he'll face plenty of criticism, it's striking just how weak any defence seems likely to be.

The sole pro-O'Connor voice which the Star was apparently able to track down was a former fellow cadet and officer. And even from that less-than-neutral source, the case for O'Connor couldn't be much more tepid:

(Douglas Bland) notes that few defence ministers survive their time atop the department without enduring some controversies. "It's just in the nature of this very large organization ... with all kinds of money and where all the employees are armed," he says.

"It's inherently difficult to do and it is even more difficult to do when you're dealing with a wartime situation."...

"When it gets into dealing with these very big issues, like C-17s and re-equipping the armed forces and people being killed and wounded in action, I think he's done a reasonably good job."

In other words, the case for O'Connor amounts to:
- the all-too-familiar refrain that "it's hard work being X!", and
- a claim that if one narrows the issues and squints hard enough with a positive enough impression of him as a person, one can see O'Connor as doing a "reasonably good job".

Of course, that latter point is thoroughly contradicted by O'Connor's track record of fabrications and evasion tactics. Which means that unless Harper and company are prepared to offer a far stronger case for O'Connor's continued place in Cabinet than anybody the Star could track down, it's long past time for the difficult role to be taken over by somebody who hasn't demonstrated his or her inability to fill it.