Ignatieff's positions on the issues are vague platitudes. Without an agenda or mandate endorsed (albeit indirectly) by the party membership, Ignatieff has extraordinary leeway to do as he pleases.

And by not engaging the membership through delegates to choose a new leader, will Ignatieff have the same stature as a normal party leader? Will Harper use this circumvention of the normal quasi-democratic process as a cudgel with which to hit the Liberals for their anti-democratic ways ("first they block Senate reform to keep their appointed cronies in power, then they try to subvert an election with a coalition, now they won't even allow the membership to choose their new leader").

The Liberal Party could have appointed a caretaker leader (e.g. Ralph Goodale who has credibility on the economy) and gone ahead with their normal selection process. Instead they have taken the gamble of circumventing that process (so soon after the coalition gamble seemed to fail).

I'm not sure where the Liberal Party is heading, and it might not make them a stronger party. I don't know if a weak Liberal Party is what Canada needs right now.