Simply put, the definitive takedown on Paul Martin, courtesy of Inkless Wells. A few choice cuts:

The party-wide uprising of 2002 which sought to depose Jean Chrétien represented a kind of contract. Liberals could indulge the mess of kicking out a guy who'd given his life to their party because they could expect to do better—electorally, morally and in terms of policy ingenuity and boldness. Especially boldness. Liberals were finally rejecting a baby-steps, managerial government for one that represented "transformative change" on more than a dozen fronts. How far they've fallen . . . The stunning lack of imagination in Martin's Ottawa—these are essentially the Brezhnev years—is impossible to overstate . . .

The good news for Liberals is that at this point in our history, Canadians can absolutely afford the luxury of thudding mediocrity at the centre of power. Our government stacks up surpluses so phenomenal even Liberals can't spend their way into deficit. Goading a complacently federalist Quebec back into separatism is hard work, and if Brian Mulroney was up to the job, Paul Martin isn't. As for a prime minister who shows up at every international meeting with a proposal for more international meetings, the worst that can be said is that he is not adding to the world's woes.

For the time being, we may be able to afford mediocrity. The more important question is, how long will be be willing to tolerate it?