On simple choices

Susan Riley's column on Jack Layton as a voice of cooperation and civility is well worth a read. But it's particularly worth highlighting what seems to me to be the greatest weakness in the Cons' anti-coalition hysteria:

(T)here is a larger battle being waged in our politics: between civility and common sense and cynicism and perpetual war. The next election could tell us not just which party wins, but what kind of people we are.

Layton is a natural optimist. He works hard at keeping open channels of communication with other leaders. Harper usually returns his calls. Michael Ignatieff is also talking to him these days, although it took a while. He regularly bumps into Gilles Duceppe at the gym.

"I don't feel animosity to any of those individuals," Layton said in a recent interview. "I try not to personalize things; I try to keep the lines open."
...
Layton laughs off the (coalition) threat, noting that "the (Conservatives) already have the ads made" no matter what the opposition does. In creating a coalition boogyman, Harper is "running against the notion that political parties should work together."

I've made the point before that if the coalition issue is framed properly as a contest between Con tribalism against cooperative politics, it can turn against the Cons in a hurry - with the main danger for anybody opposed to Harper being the possibility that the Libs might get spooked enough to denounce the prospect of a coalition and do the Cons' work for them.

But Layton's message nicely highlights why the Libs' choice should be an obvious one. Nothing they can say will get the Cons to stop talking incessantly about a coalition; the crucial question is whether a possible coalition will be seen by voters as a positive opportunity for parties to work together in Canada's best interest, or as an abomination against partisan nature as the Cons are arguing. And the longer the Libs try not to talk about the issue (rather than coming to the defence of the idea of cooperative politics), the more likely it is that the "perpetual war" model will win out.