The reviews are in

Hassan Arif takes Michael Ignatieff to task for the Libs' latest move to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan:

Even the ostensibly hawkish Conservatives have set 2011 as the time to withdraw troops from (Afghanistan). Therefore, it is baffling that the Liberals would actually try to out-hawk the Conservatives on this issue by calling for an extension of Canada's involvement beyond 2011, even a limited one.

However, that is what Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has done. He has called for a limited extension of the mission beyond 2011, in particular keeping troops there in a "training" capacity. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government have shot back, opposing the extension and actually outflanking the Liberals on the anti-war front, something that is a winner with a war-weary public.
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Mr. Ignatieff's potential to articulate a vision for his party and for his country are not being capitalized upon. Rather than an intellectual, he seems more a faltering politician. Ill-considered decisions, such as supporting a limited extension of the Afghanistan mission, do not help the party with progressive voters (not to mention being just plain wrong, given the bog that Afghanistan has become).

Both Mr. Ignatieff and the Liberal Party can do better.