Angry in the Great White North

The buzz about Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff's alleged exit plan has made for an interesting morning: 

Sources say the [University of Toronto] would also welcome Ignatieff's return if he chooses to fill the post [of head of the Munk School of Global Affairs] it offered in 2005 to bring him back to Canada from Harvard.

Ignatieff's spokesperson insists his only post-election plan is "leading a Liberal government and getting Canada back on track." Mario Lague says the cross-country tour is a measure of Ignatieff's determination, that he has not discussed a position with any institution and that widespread current speculation is groundless.

Others in both political and academic circles say overtures were informal, made through Ignatieff's Munk connections and that any exit strategy is contingent on campaign results.

Admittedly, this is pretty thin stuff.  The information doesn't even come from "anonymous Liberal sources", just generic "others" in "political and academic circles".

I read this and thought, "What?  This is it?"

And yet, it was the headline in today's print edition of the Toronto Star:

The headline is unambiguous.  The University of Toronto is offering the job to Michael Ignatieff.  Michael Ignatieff now has a "exit plan".

Read the story, and the "offer" is much more speculative.

So what is going on here?  The only thing that makes sense to me is that the media, even the pro-Liberal Toronto Star, does not expect Michael Ignatieff to succeed with his summer tour.

Worse than that, they are all but making certain he doesn't.

All eyes are on Michael Ignatieff now that he was kicked off his summer tour, and those eyes are looking for gaffes and missteps and controversies.  If Michael Ignatieff doesn't oblige the media with a stupid comment, they'll construct a damaging controversy using stuff that is sorta kinda true.

Let's review.

Kicking off the tour, Michael Ignatieff commits an unforced error when he calls Stephen Harper the Devil himself.

Michael Ignatieff is scolded in editorials across the country.

Then mere hours in, the bus broke down. 

Pictures of the bus are online at media websites within minutes.

Then the bus was fixed by Harper's Diesel.

Cue the guffaws as that goofy (and utterly irrelevant) coincidence is reported widely.

And now this.  Michael Ignatieff has given up on politics and is looking to return to academia.

Of course, that's not at all what the story says, but people glancing at the Toronto Star headline will see that.  And this is the above-the-fold top headline, running the entire width of the page immediately under the banner.

This is a disaster for Michael Ignatieff.  This tour was supposed allow Canadians meet Michael Ignatieff.

Now they'll be meeting The Quitter, thanks to the pro-Liberal Toronto Star.

Can this get any worse for Michael Ignatieff?  If he doesn't make it worse on his own, then the media will find a way to do it for him.

Am I defending Michael Ignatieff?  Not really.  Is he being treated unfairly?  Perhaps, but in the year-and-a-half since he grabbed control of the Liberal Party, Ignatieff has shown himself to be an awful politician, unworthy of the power he grabbed for himself while denying the Liberal Party membership the chance to vote on alternatives.  It is no wonder that the media is fed up with him.  They're tired of waiting for him to stop bumbling, and likely egged on by Ignatieff's enemies within the Liberal party, they want him gone.

Hence, Michael Ignatieff, the Quitter.

Tomorrow or the day after, another media landmine will go off, and then another after that.  That or Michael Ignatieff will simply be ignored.  Either way, it looks likely that it will continue until Michael Ignatieff is well and truly finished.