Time for Cowen to read public mood and deliver
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Mary Harney after the Lisbon rejection: Mr Cowen needs all his skills to handle the fallout
Related Articles
'Gordon Cowen . . . ." The Fine Gael strategist purred the words seductively the day before polling as he confessed to internal party soundings that indicated the Lisbon referendum was in deep trouble.
The main opposition party would dearly love to see the Taoiseach turn into an Irish equivalent of the accident-prone and increasingly unpopular prime minister from across the water.
It's one of the reasons Mr Cowen's handlers would have been unenthusiastic about his meeting with the British premier at Stormont castle yesterday. Not that standing alongside George Bush would have been a welcome photo opportunity either.
The telephoto lens is unforgiving -- the picture of Mr Cowen biting his lip at Government Buildings during his initial reaction to the Lisbon outcome has already been used a good deal.
Any further glum attitudes only send out further signals of helplessness.
On the other hand, it's a double bind. Because beatific smiles certainly aren't appropriate, especially when the people have just taken you to the woodshed to administer the mother and father of a beating.
So Brian Cowen must project a sober mood, but one infused with new determination. Because it has been made abundantly clear that the people now want to see a level of urgency from their politicians in terms of the ills afflicting their lives, and the whole political establishment must get quickly back in touch with the people, their masters. When the going gets tough . . .
It's tempting, but too easy, to see the Taoiseach now as damaged political goods.
Some newspapers have already been bitterly scornful, but Brian Cowen remains today what Bertie Ahern hailed him as before his elevation -- the best intellect in the Dail, and the best brain he had ever encountered at Cabinet. It may have happened right at the beginning of his watch, but the Lisbon disaster for the Government is hardly Biffo's fault.
Yes, he made mistakes -- and some bad ones -- in the course of the campaign, but he also worked terrifically hard himself, and was badly let down by others.
There may yet be a reckoning for that latter aspect, especially since Mr Cowen warned his party at the very beginning of the campaign that he expected full loyalty.
That didn't just mean not voting 'No,' but a rolling-up of sleeves. Clearly, many members of his party instead slouched off.
Yet the public has a wider perception, and Brian Cowen remains tarnished by the defeat, despite his many and varied talents and the inescapable fact that the tide was well and truly out for him on this occasion.
Yes, it was a disaster, but it doesn't turn the Taoiseach into an ineffectual King Canute just because he couldn't hold back this particular swell.
Instead he has to smarten up his political act, re-energise his team, and set about achieving attainable goals for Irish consumers, parents, commuters, and the full gamut of stakeholders that make up the electorate.
Mr Cowen, as well as possessing the requisite grey matter to define the various problems facing the Irish people, one suspects also has sufficient acuity and personal drive to make sure what's necessary is swiftly done. He's about to show us what he possesses -- and it is simply unfair to offer an opinion on his leadership or longevity after practically the first five minutes.
The very scale and nature of the dark clouds besetting the country can be a powerful asset, if harnessed properly. The Taoiseach can and will make difficult decisions, not least because he must, and he will furthermore be entitled to seek the forbearance of the people in administering harsh medicine.
But first of all he must show that he is prepared to take it himself. There is now no question but that the Taoiseach must abandon the idea of implementing huge pay rises from next September (when the Dail will still be in summer recess!), which were belatedly postponed last year after a public outcry.
Because if Mr Cowen were to pocket a giant payday while lecturing the rest of us, there is little question but that he would be signing the death warrant of scores of Fianna Fail councillors at next year's local elections and would very probably hasten the day of his own eventual execution.
There is much that can be done before then, however, and a long lazy summer is not an option for the new occupant of Government Buildings. He has to show some commitment quickly after his government gave the impression of not caring a jot about rampaging inflation and the galloping cost of grocery bills and fuel.
"Whingeing," said Brian Lenihan of complaints about petrol and diesel prices.
And Brian Cowen himself used the F-word when protests were mounted in the Dail about the all-round uselessness of the National Consumer Agency and the continued, brazen sterling-gouging by the big multiples. Not a good start.
Whether or not he read the Lisbon Treaty, Mr Cowen now has to read the public mood, not that it is in any way disguised. Instead of reforming the public service, he has to start by reforming the lazy government he inherited from the days when his whole party was content to coast along while the money kept coming.
Results are demanded. Mr Cowen, concentrating anew, remains the man best qualified to deliver.
- Senan Molony
