A puzzling feature of a puzzling Michael Ignatieff is his failure to date to court Barack Obama and to weigh in on the future of a jittery Canadian-American relationship.
The Liberal Leader is highly suited to become an Obama soulmate as well as a consequential voice on bilateral affairs. Before coming to Ottawa, he had spent his previous five years at Harvard. He developed close contacts with players who are now in senior positions on Mr. Obama's team. And he has much in common with the President. Both are liberals, both are Harvard men, both are men of letters, both are citizens of the world. But Mr. Ignatieff has steered clear of a central role in the American debate and of Mr. Obama as well, leaving the field to Stephen Harper.
These are rocky times on the bilateral front. Trade volumes are declining, border fences have gone up. Financial tumult has walloped America and its paramountcy is challenged, at least to some degree, by Asia's rise. This country can't ride its coattails as it used to.
These are big challenges for big thinkers. We expected Mr. Ignatieff to respond by unhesitatingly seeking a close alliance with a liberal President whose popularity in Canada is enormous. Mr. Obama is a busy man but surely, given his contacts, Mr. Ignatieff could have received entry to the Oval Office by now, as opposition leaders before him have done.
The Liberal Leader is a favourite of The New York Times and generally well connected to the American media. He could have given the President a lift and won favour in Mr. Obama's camp by taking on right-wing Republicans on such issues as health care. Ottawa has serious differences with the Democrats on bilateral issues, but by building a rapport with the President, Mr. Ignatieff could have cast himself as better positioned than Mr. Harper to work them out.
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