A reputation in politics can sometimes be lost pretty quickly. You don't have to go any further than the Liberal Party to know that. And now the Conservatives may be at risk of going down that road themselves on their reputation for deft management of the economy.
This week, Bob Rae, in a speech that was advertised as roadmap to power, laid out a platform on the economy. Critics derided it as a road to nowhere. Far from being a strategy to get the party back on its feet it was a standard condemnation of Conservative economic policy while it bemoaned Liberal mistakes in the past.
As a stump speaker, Rae is as good as it gets. But if that speech was an effort to restore the economic credentials of the Liberal Party -- a reputation built by Paul Martin and Jean Chretien -- most critics felt it broke no new ground, and offered nothing to prompt voters to have a serious rethink about Liberalism. However, the Conservatives themselves weren't helped a lot when Finance Minister Jim Flahety was forced to concede that his much touted plan to eliminate the deficit, will not and cannot be reached. It did more than Bob Rae could ever have done to take some of the luster off the fiscal credentials of the Conservative Party.
During the election campaign, only a brief six months ago, the prime minister was promising voters a beguiling raft of tax breaks for families and individuals. All of these promises however, hinged on what the government said was its certain intention to slay the deficit dragon and return to balanced budgets by 2014.
They said this although many economists and commenters cast doubt on the Conservatives government ability to do so that soon, especially since the economy was clearly heading into a slowdown.
In effect, the finance minister now admitted they were right.
No one should be so cynical to suggest they believed this all along, which would have allowed them to make expensive election promises without having to worry about the necessity to having to carry through on them.
Anyway, whether it was good politics for the government to cancel its plans to slash spending and therefore, meet its deficit commitments, it was probably good economics.
Even the usually conservative International Monetary Fund is urging governments these days to resist severe austerity measures which weaken already sluggish growth and potentially plunge economies deeper into the hole.
In Canada's case, federal revenues were dropping off by the billions and it would have been even more difficult for the Conservatives to meet the no-deficit promise.
On Question Period this week, we will talk to the Liberal leader, Bob Rae, and we will want to know about the only fresh idea the Liberals have had in years, which is a plan for an American style primary system to elect their new leader.
We will also speak with the finance minister, who is in Hawaii where Prime Minister Stephen Harper is meeting with the American president and leaders of the Asia-Pacific nations.
Finally, to get the big picture on what in the world is happening, we'll talk to eminent historian and economist, Niall Ferguson, from Harvard University.
