Cowen has the courage to steer us to better times
Last Thursday, on Newstalk 106, Eamon Keane asked me to look back at the elections. You can pick up my pearls of wisdom on Newstalk's podcast. Today, as a member of the anti-stupidity party, I want to take the pundits to task in three areas.
First, I was baffled by how the pundits could review the results without reference to the Government's grim struggle to bring the public finances under control. Bizarrely, pundits gloated at the spectacle of Fianna Fail and the Greens being punished for doing what needs doing.
Giving out about a Government which acts with good authority -- in imposing levies on public sector pensions for example -- is analogous to gloating over the misery of a parent whose son has crashed the family car in protest at his father cutting his fat allowance following the loss of the father's job.
Second, I was baffled by talk of seismic shifts in Irish politics and the arrival of a "proper left-right divide" in Irish politics. Years ago, I subscribed to this because I had not read enough European history. But when I took on board the full totalitarian history of Europe, I thanked God for our system of swapping between two social democratic parties.
For almost a century the Irish Republic has been able to shift slightly left or slightly right without going to the extreme of left or right. That is why we are the only European country, apart from England, to withstand fascism and communism, not to mention the pressures of the Provisional IRA campaign.
Third, I was baffled by the pundits' assumption that Fianna Fail was being properly punished for crimes which no other party would have committed. Am I asked to believe that if Fine Gael and Labour were in power during the Celtic Tiger they would have done any differently? Give me a break.
Am I asked to believe that Fine Gael would have broken up the love affair between the Irish middle class and rising property prices, would have imposed savage property taxes, cooled the market and put thousands of building workers on the dole just to please George Lee? Give me another break.
Am I asked to believe that the Labour party would have stopped recruiting public sector workers, cut their pay and pensions, and cut back on public spending on community activists, aka experts in extracting money from the public purse? Give me a third break.
If in power during the Celtic Tiger, a Fine Gael-Labour Rainbow would have run us even more deeply into debt. Although they know this, the pundits still seem to feel that Fianna Fail should be punished for creating a mess which the Rainbow would have also created -- but in spades.
These pathetic pundits are what my mother would call Wirra Wirras. (The words come from the keening "A Mhuire" at wakes.) A Wirra Wirra is the kind of person who wails at Michael Collins after he signs the Treaty,
"Jaysus Mick, maybe we shouldn't have signed that at all."
Likewise, looking back to the Celtic Tiger period in search of scapegoats -- like looking in a mirror in my view -- will not put a penny in the public purse. That was then and this is now.
Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan and John Gormley had only two or three choices. Take popular decisions and destroy us. Take no decisions and call it a day. Take the tough decisions and face destruction at the polls. Courageously they chose the last.
So let's get real.
For a start the pundits should stop pretending that a Fine Gael-Labour government would deal with the current crisis better than Fianna Fail and the Greens are doing.
Fine Gael might do so on its own. But the Labour party would act as an albatross around its neck and dodge any act of good authority such as closing the 20 per cent gap between public and private sector pay.
When I say that Labour would not act with good authority, I am simply stating the facts. Is there a single piece of evidence that Eamon Gilmore is willing to cut one public sector job, cut one euro from the social welfare bill, or take on the republican socialists in Siptu? None whatsoever.
By punishing Fianna Fail and rewarding Labour, the voters have done another Lisbon, that is done something they are already regretting. They punished Fianna Fail for past crimes that a Rainbow with Labour would also have committed -- but which the Rainbow would not have cleaned up so resolutely simply because Labour wouldn't let it.
Luckily, Fianna Fail did not have to deal with Labour. Because neither Fianna Fail nor Fine Gael will ever be able to tackle the two biggest drains on the public purse -- public sector pay and social welfare -- as long as Labour and the independents are like albatrosses around their necks.
Brian Cowen has the character to be a great Taoiseach. So has Enda Kenny who has given Fine Gael its finest hour. Accordingly, at the next General Election, voters should firmly plump either for Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, with the Greens as third choice -- if they come through without wobbling.
Meantime, the pundits should start changing their script on Brian Cowen. Because while Brian Cowen may be poor on presentation he is big on bottle.
The recent elections were a real test of his resolution and he came through with flying colours.
Someone as politically savvy as Cowen knew six months ago that Fianna Fail faced annihilation if he persisted with the public sector and other levies and told the truth about us needing an even tougher Budget this year. But Cowen continued to put the country first with a bravery which makes Alan Dukes Tallaght strategy look tame by comparison.
Historians will be kinder to Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan and John Gormley than to the witless wafflers on the election panels who failed to pay tribute to their patriotism and cold courage in acting with good authority. The Government parties may be bloodied but they are also battle hardened.
Last Sunday, I was alone in saying that given the hard choices the Government had made, it was a good result for Fianna Fail.
But I will not be alone much longer.
Since I amplified my early Sunday Independent position on Newstalk, some of the pundits seem to be shifting their positions.
In short, I am helping to set a new agenda, one that puts the results in a more realistic perspective.
Soon more and more pundits will see why a Fine Gael-Labour Rainbow might run from hard decisions. Soon Gilmore will be forced to come out with some guff about reforming the public service -- but no numbers.
If you want a change at the next General Election, vote for Enda Kenny and Fine Gael. But don't waste votes on Labour and other lefties who will not act with good authority. Not unless they give you actual numbers in advance.
Meantime, Brian Cowen is the best bet to bring us through the bad times. And if the Greens have the guts to go on and see us to the sunny uplands, they and Fianna Fail will find that all is forgiven.
That's the new script.
As always, it will be plagiarised without acknowledgement. But remember you read it here first.
- EOGHAN HARRIS
