A graceful exit is the final requirement for a politician hoping to leave office with his or her credibility intact. But you’d have to say that Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is flirting with an almighty belly flop to end his illustrious career.

The first warning sign came almost two years ago, in the 2004 provincial election, when Klein and his top advisors concluded that the best campaign would be no campaign at all. The economy was quickening to boom velocity, the premier was doing well in the polls and the Opposition seemed weak. So, why complicate things with issues and policies?

As a result, some 200,000 Conservative party supporters decided a non-campaign deserved a non-appearance at the polls and stayed home. Klein’s lacklustre performance also appeared to convince even some of his most ardent fans that he was past his “best by” date. And at the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta’s annual meeting this past spring, almost half the delegates voted to send him into early retirement.

Why? Well, in the midst of good times, there is one issue top-of-mind for many Albertans. It is summed up in an eloquent bumper sticker of the 1980s: “Lord, grant me one more boom and I promise not to piss it away.” You see, last time around, Alberta was not successful in using its energy windfall to secure long-term prosperity. This time, that seems to be the absolute minimum Albertans expect.

Klein offered no such plan in the 2004 election, but since then has consistently assured people one existed — until his last day in the legislature and his last press conference, when he frankly admitted there had never been a plan. The premier confessed that he hadn’t understood the extent of the boom “until six or eight months ago” and that his critics were right in suggesting the government didn’t have a strategy for managing such “phenomenal growth.”

You could almost hear the collective groan from a Conservative party that must continue to govern post-Ralph. Why would the premier hobble his successor with such an admission? It’s bad enough that people don’t think you have a plan, but why confirm it?

A death wish, perhaps? Only Klein knows.

Add this to the many other puzzles surrounding the departure of Canada’s longest-serving, most successful and most popular premier. (He presided over four consecutive majorities.) He could have retired gloriously before the 2004 election. He could have gone at the end of 2005, in the glow of a year-long Alberta centennial bash. Instead, he hung around for all the ingratitude and inevitable second-guessing. Go figure.

But at least that is the bottom of the barrel, the deepest self-inflicted wound. Right? Oh, no. By admitting there is no plan to manage the boom, Klein has painted the candidates running to replace him into a corner. Most have announced their own plans to “secure Alberta’s future” — dripping with implied criticism of Klein.

To top it all, the icon of Alberta Conservative politics, former premier Peter Lougheed, felt obliged to state that Klein is leaving behind a “mess” that will take some cleaning up. A concerned Lougheed said he “couldn’t have envisioned” the manner in which the Klein government has fumbled the management of the current boom.

Two decades after he left office, people still listen when Lougheed speaks. Among Conservatives, the man is a living legend. And having him declare the Klein government has made a mess of things is condemnation indeed. It is not that Lougheed didn’t make his own mistakes, but his reputation remains intact because he ended his political career with finesse. He made a graceful exit.

There’s a lesson there for Klein, although it’s probably too late for him to learn it. IE