Lib Dems By Any Other Name

How bitter it must be to be Nick Clegg. Not that he is not a kind and lovely gentleman, or is not, I have no idea of that, having never met him; and one should not judge, whom one has never met, unless his words and actions justify it. No, the reason for the bitterness that mr Clegg must feel on almost a daily basis is that he can do no good. The reason he can do not good is, in turn, that he is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, a party that serves no purpose, other than to be. Vainly it has sought an aim, a goal to aspire to, something to be its raison d'etre. And finally last May it found that very thing. The Lib Dems would join the coaltion with the Conservative Party, showing once and for all to the voters, who for decades of elections had hesitated to vote for them, that they were a party of trust, a party of government, and not some foolhardy attempt at block-headed opposition.

Now, not a year after the joining the David Cameron-led experimental mixer they are having profoundly disturbed second thoughts. For what has come to pass, the Lib Dems have realized that as the very minor partner in the coalition their positive pre-election policy ideas - so far as they had any - are not acted upon, and their negative policies, the things they were against - and of these there were a great many - are. The one thing, the single most important issue, they have gotten out of giving mr Cameron the keys to no. 10 is rapidly running into trouble too. The upcoming voting reform referendum was always a must-win campaign for the Lib Dems, but it is looking increasingly likely that the no vote will prevail.

Losing the referendum, mr Clegg knows, though he will not admit it, will almost certainly cost him the leadership of his party, and with it his cushioned seat as Deputy Prime Minister. Indeed it may result in the collapse of the entire coalition government. So what to do? The Lib Dems, being a party instinctively suspicious of anything that smacks of tradition have hit on the idea of simply changing the name and logo of the party:

The rebranding exercise due to get under way next month will involve a total rethink of the party's direction and could even include changing the name and logo, insiders said.
Some party strategists believe the name should change to include the word "social", in order to reassure members and voters that it is more left wing.
The image of a bird in flight could go in favour of a new logo emphasising fairness and social justice, such as a scale.

Yes, in all their concerted brilliance the Lib Dem cosmetics board thinks that in this day of flash and style-over-substance, some plastic surgery on the visage will be enough to restore the voter confidence that has been haemorhaging for years.

Well, I wish them good luck and all the best, but I can't forget those immortal lines of Shakespeare's:

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet
(Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene II)

Or to be less flattering, since I do not think the Lib Dems that sweet smelling, rather odorriferous actually, I recall what Barack Obama said about Sarah Palin:

You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink.