It’s no secret that I love politics. And those who are in it know it’s a blood sport. This is a game, and yes, it’s a game, one of public perception and timing.
Take the latest move by the Ignatieff Liberals. The liberals are concerned (and rightly so) that the planned economic stimulus spending will favour Conservative held ridings and the money will go to special interests rather than help those most needing it. Faced with the prospect of being hung by ruling Conservative party on the negative public opinion tree over the issue of delaying infrastructure spending in parliament, the Liberals supported the bill. Of course this is decried by the other opposition parties as flip flopping. So how did the Liberals put the ball back in their own court?
During caucus Liberal party leader Ignatieff made appoint of putting the Conservative “On Probation”.
Now this could be just a trite turn of phrase, but in a really it’s a nice marketing tie in to a new Liberal campaign. The Libs backed this calculated phrase with an online site called http://www.onprobation.ca/. This website aims to track Government spending and make public where that money is spent. Of course, it’s in the media, press releases, all the party sites and marketing material. Driving public awareness and keeping the Liberal point in a positive front of mind in public perception.
It’s a great example of turning a negative into a positive.