And so I find attempts to draw comparisons between Obama’s extraordinary and surely unique journey and any Irish leader a bit facile and completely useless as an analytical tool.

Gilmore is who he is. Personally I find him far less populist and far more able than Rabbit. But then, perhaps the current crisis, which left the present government reeling, makes it easier to land punches. Far harder in Rabbit’s time when the nation still seemed to be basking in the rays of a decade long super boom (Even if shadows were already encroaching). I too found Gilmore’s posturing over Lisbon to be dangerous populism. But I don’t have the same problem with his opposition to the banking gaurantee. When governments tell us they need to take swift action and prevent the details from being made public ‘in the national interest’, that is precisely the time we need to ask questions. That is not to say I disbelieve the current regime when they said they had to act quickly to save the system. They probably had, and their demeanour in the days that followed suggested they had been shocked. But those occasions where hiding information is beneficial to the common good are rare indeed and I feel still more questions need to be asked about how our banking system unravelled.

Back to Gilmore. I think it will be very interesting to see how he reacts to the imminent proposals for serious cut backs and if he can table credible alternatives the perhaps he demonstrate why he is serious leadership material. For me, it is still too early to judge him. But I suppose the same could be said of Cowen.

Jer, I meant to reply to the substance of your post – you are correct in saying that Labour have structural weaknesses, but there are plans afoot to try and address some of them. Running more candidates, and running the correct candidates will be the biggest challenge. Finally, and as said above – all I was saying was that we needed an Obama like figure in that we need a figure, with, as you say, is inspiring and has genuine vision. And I think that person is Gilmore.

Dan, November 2008 wasn’t just a presidential election, it was a general election, and I do think there are similarities between Irish national politics and US national politics in the impact of one leading candidate on the success of candidates below.

Veronica, I stand by my remark to you – you stated there was no comparison between Obama and Gilmore and I disagreed and gave examples. Subsequent to that, all I got was a few digs.

Thanks for the YouTube links – best laugh I’ve had all day!

Tom do you seriously think Gilmore will get something like this. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU
the nearest he will get is http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzqktoIkhqY

I think the Constitution supplies the necessary conditions for legitimacy, but not the sufficient ones. If enough people think that the government is over-matched by the new circumstances, the system can and does respond to that. We’re really not that far from the conditions that could lead to another election: nervous Greens, independents, and even a few FF backbenchers. One other thing: have Dermot Ahern or Micheal Martin said a word about the economy in the last 6 months? It’s like they’re waiting for something.

Quickly summarised that was that:
Labour have structural weaknesses across Ireland that preclude them from establishing the critical mass they need to be able to challenge the FF/FG contest and effect actual reform.
That allied with the challenges Gilmore will face in building party representation while simultaneously pursuing a reformist agenda will tax the ability of any leader to keep onside with our electorate.

The structural weakness is for me a big problem with labour.

If I thought your responses had any merit or addressed my original points in any definitive way, believe me I would be the first to concede that. Is that what you do?

All that aside, when things are very bad – and they are very bad right now and there’s more fear and uncertainty about the future than I can ever remember in my lifetime – of course we all look for someone to emerge at a political level who will know what to do and will pursue the right course of action relentlessly and with purpose. That does not entitle us to dress people up in mantles that don’t fit them at all, or were never designed to fit such flawed individuals ( i.e. normal human beings) in the first place.

But when we do, and there are many examples the world over, and when they then begin to swagger around and preen themselves in their finery of undue adulation and misguided self-belief in their own prowess, we watch in horror as they lose the run of themselves and disaster unfolds.

Which is why I have no time for foisting delusions of capability onto any politician in our own system and I am thankful that the very nature of the system itself precludes the emergence of little Napoleons or allows them to endure for any great length of time.

In general terms we, as a people, need to be a little less catholic about our politics and stop looking for a political priest figure to guide us out of the darkness and be a bit more protestant in our outlook and learn to do it for ourselves.

My apologies if my religious comparison causes any offence.