Is George Lee the Irish Barack Obama ?

Leiva

Is George Lee the new irish Barack Obama ?

I dont think Brian Cowen has anything to worry about when it comes to Enda , I think George Lee could be a real threat .

I know he aint even cut his political teeth yet but it seems the amount of popularity votes he got in the local elections could become a national thing if he can puts words into action .
The modern day democratic vote can be cast more on popularity than policy.. George and Barack seem to have that in the bag.

In the current financial and economic crisis i think people look at him as been a possible shining light who could guide the sheep out of the murky recession woods to a brighter day , he has the credentials .
Richard Bruton seems a smart enough but does he have the the the the (you know what i mean ! )

This is all coming from a non Fine Gael voter !

What u think ?

TheInquisitor

In case you haven't noticed he's not black.

Leiva

TheInquisitor wrote: »

In case you haven't noticed he's not black.

S*it should have gone to specsavers

CiaranC

lol

turgon

As another poster remarked, he will have to look a lot more interested when hes in the Dail for this shining armour image to keep up.

But in terms of being able to draw votes, Leeomania surely has the potential.

DrumSteve

hes not even the irish george lee.

thebman

turgon wrote: »

As another poster remarked, he will have to look a lot more interested when hes in the Dail for this shining armour image to keep up.

You'd be surprised how many people don't care about things like that.

eamonnm79

Have to a gree with you mixed nuts.
As a non Fina Geal voter Iwould have been hugely impressed by him so far.
He seems genuine, capable, a brillliant mind and a confident communicator.
His opening speech to the dail available on the RTE site was excellent.

I think he is the real deal. and yeah thats what I thought about Obama too.

He seems to have a very deep social conscience, one wonders if he might have been better joining labour?

Sleepy

Doubt it eamonnm79, he's smart enough not to become the unions' lapdog and when asked about his choice of Fine Gael on the Last Word, he was quite clear that he was running for them because he wanted a chance to make up part of a government. The next government will certainly involve Fine Gael. Labour will only be the smaller coallition partner if FGcan't make up the numbers on their own or with the assistance of some independents (or even whatever remains of the Green Party).

viztopia

no way can he be compared to obama. he's an a**hole who jumped on the fine gael anti government badwangon which has been overhyped by the blantantly biased media!! yes the government, banks and those in autorithy have a lot to answer for but the media is not helping the problem. there job is to give an open and transparent view of things not all this depressing doom and glomm which lee was the champion of. also if he thought that it was his patriotic duty to run fot the Dail why did he wait until now? i mean its not that long since the last election. he saw an easy seat and he went for it.

thebman

viztopia wrote: »

no way can he be compared to obama. he's an a**hole who jumped on the fine gael anti government badwangon which has been overhyped by the blantantly biased media!! yes the government, banks and those in autorithy have a lot to answer for but the media is not helping the problem. there job is to give an open and transparent view of things not all this depressing doom and glomm which lee was the champion of. also if he thought that it was his patriotic duty to run fot the Dail why did he wait until now? i mean its not that long since the last election. he saw an easy seat and he went for it.

lol seems like you might be a bit biased yourself TBH.

road_high

Unlike FF is telling the truth re the economy. Simple as that for me.
George for Taoiseach

Blackjack

I think George Lee probably has quite a bit to offer, but I just wonder how long he's going to last before he either bows to the Party whip or falls out with the Party entirely, and then gets told to feck off.

He has entered Politics after all.

parker kent

Surely the issue of votes being based on popularity not policy is one of the most alarming things mentioned here? Bertie Ahern basically stayed in power for years based on popularity so I guess it's not beyond all possible belief that Lee could do it. Although for that to happen Enda Kenny would have to do one (here's hoping!) so no chance in the immediate future. The whole notion of popularity contests deciding how the country is run frightens me. Beware the power of popular opinion, there's nothing as dangerous!

Plus George Lee is an annoying twat!

MoominPapa

Well the burden of expectation seems about the same

paddyboy23

i wonder if george has the bottle to ask enda to step aside for the good of the party,or will he just be like the rest of fg and say notting

bacon&cabbage

eamonnm79 wrote: »

His opening speech to the dail available on the RTE site was excellent.

I though the opposite, I thought it was a very Poor speech, same old dribble from the opposition. I was expecting a lot moreTBH

I'm just wondering will he tow the party line and disagree with everything the Govt does. It amazes me that they can do this yet can't come up with realistic alternative policies

wonder if george has the bottle to ask enda to step aside for the good of the party,or will he just be like the rest of fg and say notting

Hopefully GL has a set of balls unlike the rest to FG and Lab

IIMII

I hope he drives them all mad in there, both sides of the house

cfcj

LOL.... the Irish Barrack Obama!!! That made my day

Jaysoose

LOL at the next obama remark...seriously?

George lee saw an oppurtunity and took it, every man and their dog can see that FF are goners if an election is called and FG are letting Cowen and his lapdog Lenihan hang themselves and they know that Enda is not credible/liked enough by the public so they needed a high profile figure who has not been jaded in the publics eye. FG have no policies worth talking about and are using the FF disaster to get in.

The guy wont even be made the minister for finance if they get in and lets see if he has answers for the little issues instead of banging on about the economy do you think somebody looking to get better local amenities is gonna want to hear about Toxic banks.

eamonnm79

Sleepy wrote: »

Doubt it eamonnm79, he's smart enough not to become the unions' lapdog and when asked about his choice of Fine Gael on the Last Word, he was quite clear that he was running for them because he wanted a chance to make up part of a government. The next government will certainly involve Fine Gael. Labour will only be the smaller coallition partner if FGcan't make up the numbers on their own or with the assistance of some independents (or even whatever remains of the Green Party).

Yeah he joined FG for practical rather than Ideological reasons. But when you listen to him speak he seems to have too much of a social conscience to be an FG'er. I think later poster could be right. I could see him becoming an independent fairly quickly if he gets whipped to often.

P. Breathnach

eamonnm79 wrote: »

Yeah he joined FG for practical rather than Ideological reasons. But when you listen to him speak he seems to have too much of a social conscience to be an FG'er. I think later poster could be right. I could see him becoming an independent fairly quickly if he gets whipped to often.

Like any party, Fine Gael has within its membership a range of views, including many who have a very strong social concern as well as some who are as right-wing as the PDs. George might shift the centre of gravity a little.

viking

eamonnm79 wrote: »

His opening speech to the dail available on the RTE site was excellent.

Can't find it, have you got a link?

eamonnm79

viking wrote: »

Can't find it, have you got a link?

sorry i cant find it now

bangersandmash

Jaysoose wrote: »

The guy wont even be made the minister for finance if they get in

Not necessarily a bad thing from the point of view of his long-term political career. Like Obama, the next Irish government is going inherit an economic basket case that is a legacy of their predecessors. The next minister for finance may have a relatively short-lived and ignominious career through little fault of his own. George Lee probably doesn't want to be Ireland's equivalent of Herbert Hoover.

dave-higgz

George needs a lot more experience before he'd have a chance of being Taoiseach. As strong as his public speaking skills are, his main subject area is economics and while he'd make a perfect minister for finance I wouldn't put him near any ministry like justice or defense.
He doesn't yet have the broad knowledge to be a Taoiseach, who has to deal with all issues before the government.

Also he doesn't have fluent Irish, a trait held by all Taoiseagh except Bertie Ahern . One might assume that he does because of him working in RTE however that requirement is gone and during Lee's original interview in the 90's he was asked his Irish skill by the interviewer.
His response?

Nil much Gaeilge agam!!

Sand

Also he doesn't have fluent Irish, a trait held by all Taoiseagh except Bertie Ahern . One might assume that he does because of him working in RTE however that requirement is gone and during Lee's original interview in the 90's he was asked his Irish skill by the interviewer.
His response?

Nil much Gaeilge agam!!

So?

thebman

lol Yeah I guess that might be important if you want to promote the Irish language at every opportunity.

Personally I think its dead already since none of those Taoiseach's gave enough of a rats arse to get the way it is thought changed to something that might work instead it seems more like a punishment for children.

P. Breathnach

thebman wrote: »

... Personally I think its dead already since none of those Taoiseach's gave enough of a rats arse to get the way it is thought changed to something that might work instead it seems more like a punishment for children.

Do you think English is taught any better?

is_that_so

Of more concern to me is the monotonous regularity of this IMO fairly asinine question. And of course it has to be swiftly followed by that "unelectable Kenny question". If Lee was my TD I'd be pleased that I put someone in who knows something about our present difficulties. If he flatters to deceive as a TD for his constituency then he probably wouldn't get my vote in the GE.

icanchange49

mixednuts wrote: »

Is George Lee the new irish Barack Obama ?

I dont think Brian Cowen has anything to worry about when it comes to Enda , I think George Lee could be a real threat .

I know he aint even cut his political teeth yet but it seems the amount of popularity votes he got in the local elections could become a national thing if he can puts words into action .
The modern day democratic vote can be cast more on popularity than policy.. George and Barack seem to have that in the bag.

In the current financial and economic crisis i think people look at him as been a possible shining light who could guide the sheep out of the murky recession woods to a brighter day , he has the credentials .
Richard Bruton seems a smart enough but does he have the the the the (you know what i mean ! )

This is all coming from a non Fine Gael voter !

What u think ?

He's tooooo black!
And he knows where he was born.

thebman

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Do you think English is taught any better?

Its really irrelevant since people are exposed to English all around them every day in conversation, media (print and TV/radio), music etc...

podge3

dave-higgz wrote: »

Also he doesn't have fluent Irish, a trait held by all Taoiseagh except Bertie Ahern .

Did Bertie even have fluent English?

thebman

podge3 wrote: »

Did Bertie even have fluent English?

Only when the cameras were off :mad:

Blackjack

Blackjack wrote: »

I think George Lee probably has quite a bit to offer, but I just wonder how long he's going to last before he either bows to the Party whip or falls out with the Party entirely, and then gets told to feck off.

He has entered Politics after all.

Remember where you read it first folks.................:cool:

sceptre

Please don't drag up old threads just to issue a one-liner. It's not the done thing. There's a thread discussing the resignation in the main Politics forum.