The Grumpy Muppet (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} grumpymuppet) wrote,@ 2008-04-04 10:27:00 |
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So, May the 6th will be the end of the Bertie Era of Irish Politics. I think anyone reading this is likely to know what my opinion of Mr Ahern is, I'll give you a hint, it hasn't changed since the time in Trinity when I not only refused to shake his hand but waved a middle finger at him instead. I happened to have a half day from work on Wednesday and was in the car driving across the city listening to newstalk (my current radio station of choice), I tuned in and caught the tail end of a sentence about dramatic news, from the commentary it was clear that someone had stepped down. At first I thought, Mugabe must have stepped down and it's a slow news day so they're making a fuss, about 2 seconds later it was apparent that it was Bertie who had resigned, perhaps the pressure of lying to the Media, the Dail and the Mahon Tribunal had got too much, so the Taoiseach was stepping down to reduce the amount of lies he needed to tell by 33%, or perhaps this man verging on his sixties has just grown tired of trying to explain some innocent transactions made more than a decade ago, and had shuffled out of the limelight with dignity, as he had planned to do all along, I'll leave it to you to decide.
For me, the credibility of a man who held the office of Minister for Finance without ever having a bank account, who had unquestionably and at his own admission received money from business men, which was put to "personal use" (money received as "a political donation for personal use", is to my mind is at best a donation made to a present to a politician to defray non-political expenses, or at worst a euphemism for a bribe), and who straight up lied about sterling payments made to a bank account has long been in question.
I was pretty surprised to be honest at the vitriol of the comments from listeners that were read out on the radio, a common theme was anger at the "Media" for "hounding the best leader we've ever had" out of of office. these sorts of messages outnumbered the "I'm glad he's gone, he was a corrupt liar" sorts of messages by 2 or 3 to 1. There is certainly no denying that for all his fumbles with the English language and for all the suspicion and allegation of shady backhanders, Bertie remains a charismatic and talented politician, as you would expect from a man schooled at the feet of Mr Charles J. Haughey who recognized him as the most devious member of his cabinet (a trait much respected by Haughey). His smiley, man-of-the-people facade and his dismissal as "nonsense" any accusation of wrongdoing won over many people, and his personality certainly carried a crucial few percent of the vote at the last election. But surely even the most ardent FF supporter must have felt some disquiet as day-by-day revelations at the Mahon Tribunal exposed more and more half-truths and as more and more unlikely explanations were offered for ever more deposits and donations of money from various sources and for various amounts.
So Bertie will go and accordingly tribute for his work on the economy and for the Northern Ireland peace process, have been pouring in, of course great things have been accomplished over the course of the past 11 years in both these areas, but Bertie inherited the peace process from John Bruton, who in turn inherited it from Albert Reynolds, besides which the real credit for the peace process lies with the politicians in Northern Ireland, who took real political and personal risk in their communities to cross the divide. Politicians in Dublin, London and Washington, while crucial to the process were at best supporting players. As for the economy, for my money, consecutive governments have mismanaged an economy that has seen massive growth on the strength of a global boom. The huge revenues generated by the boom years has not been well spent, from the voting machines, to the health service, to basic infrastructure for broadband communications and the road network good money has been thrown after bad. As Bertie, the expert metaphor mixologist might say, throwing red herrings at white elephants. Crediting Bertie with the economic boom is like crediting a man on a runaway train with breaking the world land-speed record.
I am glad that Bertie is stepping down, but I don't expect change, Brian Cowen looks likely to succeed as the next head honcho in Fianna Fail and therefore to be elevated to the position of Taoiseach, not that I would ever trust a member of Bertie's inner circle, corruption, much like misery loves company. Mr Cowen is not exactly a squeaky clean politician, in 1994, he was involved in a much forgotten controversy when it was revealed that he owned shares in a mining company at a time when he was Minister for Transport Energy and Communications, he divested himself of the shares when a newspaper found out about them, explaining that he has not acted improperly, and had not sold the shares to cover any wrongdoing, but rather to remove the possibility that the opposition might seize upon the apparent conflict of interest for political gain. In 1999, Cowen as Minister for Health grappled with Nurses who staged a prolonged strike, no real resolution was achieved and Cowen abandoned the mess and happily jumped ship to Foreign Affairs.
In fairness, Cowen hasn't done a terrible job as Minister for Finance, he has pretty much kept things going and behaved as you would expect a Fianna Fail Finance Minister to behave, that is to keep the economy propped up as best you can, keep the vested interests of the party afloat for four years out of five and then deliver a few tax breaks and a couple of big public sector spends in the election year. Not fantastic for the average Joe Citizen, but a perfectly par for the course bit of Western European politicking.
Question is, how will the less than photogenic image of Mr Cowen play out on election posters, we live in the digital media age, and politics and marketing grow closer and closer all the time. Bertie Ahern may not have been a male model, but he could put on that friendly face that seemed so good at beguiling the electorate, certainly FF last election poster campaign consisted on far more posters of their leader than posters of the local candidates. I don't think Cowen has that same photographable charisma. Of course, if it comes to a run off with Enda Kenny, a man whose charisma, charm and political acumen make him more suited to be the chairperson of a residents association in some gated community in an affluent suburb than the leader of the nation, Cowen will certainly take the upper hand. Eamonn Gilmore on the other hand is coming into his own as the Labour leader, and displayed tact and sophistication in his comments on the day Bertie stepped down, striking an even handed balance between paying tribute to the outgoing Taoiseach's accomplishments and subtly sticking the boot in, while keeping focus on his agenda as an opposition politician and on current governmental priorities. Compared to the squawking of Enda Kenny who was flapping about trying to convince people that a general election was just what the country needed, sounding like a small child trying to convince his parents that ice cream for dinner would be a fantastic idea.
Clearly, interesting times ahead.
For me, the credibility of a man who held the office of Minister for Finance without ever having a bank account, who had unquestionably and at his own admission received money from business men, which was put to "personal use" (money received as "a political donation for personal use", is to my mind is at best a donation made to a present to a politician to defray non-political expenses, or at worst a euphemism for a bribe), and who straight up lied about sterling payments made to a bank account has long been in question.
I was pretty surprised to be honest at the vitriol of the comments from listeners that were read out on the radio, a common theme was anger at the "Media" for "hounding the best leader we've ever had" out of of office. these sorts of messages outnumbered the "I'm glad he's gone, he was a corrupt liar" sorts of messages by 2 or 3 to 1. There is certainly no denying that for all his fumbles with the English language and for all the suspicion and allegation of shady backhanders, Bertie remains a charismatic and talented politician, as you would expect from a man schooled at the feet of Mr Charles J. Haughey who recognized him as the most devious member of his cabinet (a trait much respected by Haughey). His smiley, man-of-the-people facade and his dismissal as "nonsense" any accusation of wrongdoing won over many people, and his personality certainly carried a crucial few percent of the vote at the last election. But surely even the most ardent FF supporter must have felt some disquiet as day-by-day revelations at the Mahon Tribunal exposed more and more half-truths and as more and more unlikely explanations were offered for ever more deposits and donations of money from various sources and for various amounts.
So Bertie will go and accordingly tribute for his work on the economy and for the Northern Ireland peace process, have been pouring in, of course great things have been accomplished over the course of the past 11 years in both these areas, but Bertie inherited the peace process from John Bruton, who in turn inherited it from Albert Reynolds, besides which the real credit for the peace process lies with the politicians in Northern Ireland, who took real political and personal risk in their communities to cross the divide. Politicians in Dublin, London and Washington, while crucial to the process were at best supporting players. As for the economy, for my money, consecutive governments have mismanaged an economy that has seen massive growth on the strength of a global boom. The huge revenues generated by the boom years has not been well spent, from the voting machines, to the health service, to basic infrastructure for broadband communications and the road network good money has been thrown after bad. As Bertie, the expert metaphor mixologist might say, throwing red herrings at white elephants. Crediting Bertie with the economic boom is like crediting a man on a runaway train with breaking the world land-speed record.
I am glad that Bertie is stepping down, but I don't expect change, Brian Cowen looks likely to succeed as the next head honcho in Fianna Fail and therefore to be elevated to the position of Taoiseach, not that I would ever trust a member of Bertie's inner circle, corruption, much like misery loves company. Mr Cowen is not exactly a squeaky clean politician, in 1994, he was involved in a much forgotten controversy when it was revealed that he owned shares in a mining company at a time when he was Minister for Transport Energy and Communications, he divested himself of the shares when a newspaper found out about them, explaining that he has not acted improperly, and had not sold the shares to cover any wrongdoing, but rather to remove the possibility that the opposition might seize upon the apparent conflict of interest for political gain. In 1999, Cowen as Minister for Health grappled with Nurses who staged a prolonged strike, no real resolution was achieved and Cowen abandoned the mess and happily jumped ship to Foreign Affairs.
In fairness, Cowen hasn't done a terrible job as Minister for Finance, he has pretty much kept things going and behaved as you would expect a Fianna Fail Finance Minister to behave, that is to keep the economy propped up as best you can, keep the vested interests of the party afloat for four years out of five and then deliver a few tax breaks and a couple of big public sector spends in the election year. Not fantastic for the average Joe Citizen, but a perfectly par for the course bit of Western European politicking.
Question is, how will the less than photogenic image of Mr Cowen play out on election posters, we live in the digital media age, and politics and marketing grow closer and closer all the time. Bertie Ahern may not have been a male model, but he could put on that friendly face that seemed so good at beguiling the electorate, certainly FF last election poster campaign consisted on far more posters of their leader than posters of the local candidates. I don't think Cowen has that same photographable charisma. Of course, if it comes to a run off with Enda Kenny, a man whose charisma, charm and political acumen make him more suited to be the chairperson of a residents association in some gated community in an affluent suburb than the leader of the nation, Cowen will certainly take the upper hand. Eamonn Gilmore on the other hand is coming into his own as the Labour leader, and displayed tact and sophistication in his comments on the day Bertie stepped down, striking an even handed balance between paying tribute to the outgoing Taoiseach's accomplishments and subtly sticking the boot in, while keeping focus on his agenda as an opposition politician and on current governmental priorities. Compared to the squawking of Enda Kenny who was flapping about trying to convince people that a general election was just what the country needed, sounding like a small child trying to convince his parents that ice cream for dinner would be a fantastic idea.
Clearly, interesting times ahead.
