George Lee’s immature political career has a bright side – it points up the toughness and patience of politicians who do stick it out
TALK ABOUT déjà vu. Was it just nine months ago that the fabulously impatient Seán O'Rourke slapped George Lee around the News at Onefor jumping ship? On Monday he had to give Lee another clip on the ears. What a baby. He said he wanted to influence the country's economic policy. He might know his economics but did no one teach him his politics? You can't change anything unless you're in power. You can't get into power without the seats. Now, Fine Gael is down a seat and in the dumps.
Lee can play the martyr card but his leave of absence from RTÉ expires in May. Did he expect, as many did, an election last October? Did he calculate that he’d be sitting pretty in cabinet by now? Instead the Government has steadied itself and looks set to run its course. So Lee’s going to slither back to his €150,000 sinecure in RTÉ while Fine Gael and the 27,768 people who voted for him pick up the pieces.
Was it really only a fortnight ago I pleaded for compassion for Charlie Bird and his disastrous decision to go to Washington? People make mistakes, I said. Have a heart, I said. But come off it. One RTÉ star failing to cope with a bigger pond is unfortunate. Two is evidence that the place is a creche. All credit to Eoghan Harris who predicted that politics was a rocky place where Lee’s seed of public sector sense of entitlement would find no purchase.
I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t cost so much. The damage from Bird’s mistake was limited. The most RTÉ had to do was keep him in Kleenex. But Lee throwing the rattle out of the pram has inflicted considerable collateral damage.
In his May interview with O’Rourke, he claimed he was “paying a very big price” for his decision to run for office. Turns out he had a safety net and it wasn’t such a big price after all.
Other people will pay the price instead – principally his former colleagues in Fine Gael who found out Lee was leaving when they were phoned for reaction by journalists, not to mention his staff who lost their jobs when Lee lost his bottle.
Elected office isn’t just some handy job fixed up by the right people in a back room. Fine Gael gave him the nomination, but Lee was elected by the people. By turning his back on his extraordinary mandate, he undermined politics itself.
How much will it cost to fix that mistake, George? How much does a byelection cost? What price the slap in the face for the people who spoke up for you, who canvassed for you, who voted for you? Will some of them bother to vote again? In Lee’s statement he thanked a lot of people, yet nowhere – not once – did he apologise.
O’Rourke warned him back in May that politicians need a thick skin. Lee said his was thick and could get thicker. Not thick enough obviously. There is a bright side. It has reminded me of the astonishing qualities of the politicians who stick with it. There is so much cynicism about politicians that you tend to forget the incredible personal qualities they possess – physical stamina; mental toughness; endless patience.
Every politician in Dáil Éireann would like to have a say in shaping the economic policy that governs the country. The only ones who do are Brians Cowen and Lenihan.
All the others have to make do with bit parts. The Dáil is a corral where the ambitious, the frustrated and the demoralised bide their time in the hope that one day they’ll have their chance.
For how many years did a clearly talented Lenihan endure the cold shoulder from Bertie Ahern before he got promoted? Noel Dempsey is a Minister but can’t conceal his frustration that his ideas and ambitions are thwarted.
Look to Northern Ireland, to people like Séamus Mallon who spent his entire career playing second fiddle to John Hume only to watch Gerry Adams walk away with the spoils of peace.
Enda Kenny was elected in 1975. If he becomes taoiseach after the next election he will have spent 40 years working towards that goal. He was a minister for three. The only reason he keeps going in a job for which he is daily and constantly criticised is because he hopes that one day he’ll have a chance to make a difference.
If Lee can’t handle nine lousy months, the fault is his, not Kenny’s.
On Monday it was revealed in this newspaper that the International Monetary Fund warned the Government last April that the establishment of Nama would not result in new bank lending. Right up until September, the Government in general and Lenihan in particular repeatedly told us that Nama would result in new bank lending.
Yet again, we have evidence that the Government is either lying to us or continues to be duped by the banks we so generously fund.
Richard Bruton attempted to highlight this deception on Monday. George Lee's resignation consumed six minutes and 18 seconds as the top item on the 9 O'Clock news.Bruton got less than 30 seconds of a report that didn't last two minutes. So George underestimated himself. He did have an impact on Fine Gael's economic policy after all. He drowned it out.