What do you think Brian Cowen will be best/worst rembered for

block71

What do you think his future legacy will be ???
What has been his biggest political mistake ???

JayMul

He will be remembered for being out on the piss til the wee hours on a Monday night with a state of the union type address due early on a Tuesday morning radio slot. Then a month or so later he tells all his colleagues to keep their gobs shut in case they blurt something that damages Irelands credibility in the International markets.

Mr Trade In

Worst would be the following:Jay Leno Sketch, the flattering portrait,presiding over a bunch of clowns who sold out the future of everyone living here for the next 50 years at the very least. Best he replaced Bertie.

Fentdog84

I wish he would go, right away. I think then half our problems would go aswell. He's got no leadership, no tact, no conviction, no clue. He thinks he knows best and that we all should shut shut up because he's the only one who's able to get us out of this mess. Sadly, he's the one person who is hindering the recovery of the this country. The buck should always stop with the guy in charge, but he just constantly blames everyone under the sun but himself. He was minister for finance under the previous govt and his fingerprints are all over this recession. A change is as good as a holiday and he needs to go now for the sake of the country i dont care who takes over, kenny, Gilmore, Coughlan because they couldnt possibly be any worse than the guy we have in charge now. Its amazing how few people can see something when its staring them right in the face. Cowen just is not up to it.

alang184

On world-leader standards, he's quite poor; an inadequate communicator, no charisma and a substandard image.

I remember seeing the footage of Cowen in the White House with Obama for St. Patricks day. My immediate thought was that he was completely out of his depth compared to Obama.

The party who pledges to bring the Taoiseach salary back in line to the country's economic prosperity, will get my vote. It's more than the cash; it's about setting an example, and a taoiseach who has the character to slash his own pay (and ministers/TDs), clearly has the principles to put the interests of the citizens ahead of anything else.

jimmycrackcorm

Cowen will not be remembered. Its add simple add that...

ei.sdraob

Ebbs and Flows,
Turned a Corner

so many priceless quotes from him

zootroid

Fentdog84 wrote: »

I wish he would go, right away. I think then half our problems would go aswell. He's got no leadership, no tact, no conviction, no clue. He thinks he knows best and that we all should shut shut up because he's the only one who's able to get us out of this mess. Sadly, he's the one person who is hindering the recovery of the this country. The buck should always stop with the guy in charge, but he just constantly blames everyone under the sun but himself. He was minister for finance under the previous govt and his fingerprints are all over this recession. A change is as good as a holiday and he needs to go now for the sake of the country i dont care who takes over, kenny, Gilmore, Coughlan because they couldnt possibly be any worse than the guy we have in charge now. Its amazing how few people can see something when its staring them right in the face. Cowen just is not up to it.

I would agree with everything in your post except for the fact that you mentioned Coughlan. If there's one person who would be worse, its her

Mister men

For taking the piss out of the ordinary Irish person for years and years and remaining in power. Say's a lot about us as a people tbh.

danbohan

Fentdog84 wrote: »

I wish he would go, right away. I think then half our problems would go aswell. He's got no leadership, no tact, no conviction, no clue. He thinks he knows best and that we all should shut shut up because he's the only one who's able to get us out of this mess. Sadly, he's the one person who is hindering the recovery of the this country. The buck should always stop with the guy in charge, but he just constantly blames everyone under the sun but himself. He was minister for finance under the previous govt and his fingerprints are all over this recession. A change is as good as a holiday and he needs to go now for the sake of the country i dont care who takes over, kenny, Gilmore, Coughlan because they couldnt possibly be any worse than the guy we have in charge now. Its amazing how few people can see something when its staring them right in the face. Cowen just is not up to it.

don't be so naive ,do you really think Ireland problem are associated with just one man or one party its much deeper and bigger than that . hes part of the problem of course. hes not up to it , neither is any of his party including that idiot lenighan but i think he is fundamentally honest and wants to do his best , and then we have the alternative , enda , now hes even dimmer
best thing , he will probably be remembered with fondness in 5 or 6 years after we have enda and IMF ,irish people have short memories

worst , too many to mention

population

danbohan wrote: »

don't be so naive ,do you really think Ireland problem are associated with just one man or one party its much deeper and bigger than that . hes part of the problem of course. hes not up to it , neither is any of his party including that idiot lenighan but i think he is fundamentally honest and wants to do his best , and then we have the alternative , enda , now hes even dimmer
best thing , he will probably be remembered with fondness in 5 or 6 years after we have enda and IMF ,irish people have short memories

worst , too many to mention

I could not possibly disagree more with this

johnnyskeleton

He will probably be remembered for sleep walking us into a severe depression, and then just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, he and his buddies drank themselves into a stupor courtsey of their generous pay and conditions while the ordinary folks took it in the neck.

Liam Byrne

danbohan wrote: »

do you really think Ireland problem are associated with just one man or one party

One man; no......it's between himself, Ahern & Lenihan
One party; absolutely. Even if FF do survive the next election (puke) we should have it written in the constitution that they can never, ever be in charge of Finance or be Taoiseach.

Aodhfinn

Ever since i remember people here in The banana republic have blamed those at a national level called leaders , but firmly believing in accountability i know the folly of blaming the inept and corrupt singularly for the state of the nation , and for ones own personal circumstances , you reap the harvest that you sow ... all be it true that not everyone participated in the consumption piggery or shared the socio economic model the majority of the population did , and still do , to their own detriment , your systems are an expression of yourselves .

Aodhfinn

though i will never forget Cowen for his singing ability at Clara when made head of the FIaNNA FAIL FIaNNA GAEL party........youtube it ... he has a great voice if nothing else

Liam Byrne

Aodhfinn wrote: »

....when made head of the FIaNNA FAIL FIaNNA GAEL party

Cowen sings when made head of a non-existent party ? Must have been some session.

Aodhfinn

same old principles , same old solutions , same old corruption , same old lies , same old so called republic , same old game , same old apathy . Fail and Gael should be forced to merge simply on the grounds that both are center right ... civil war divorcees. For the sake of ending intellectual , philosophical stagnation at the place of the GATHERING OF THE FARMERS ( what the word dail means when translated from your abandoned language ) and the health of democracy but the myth to bed.

bladespin

Hiding when the *** hit the fan, still waiting on him to actually speak to the people about what went/is going on, doubt it'll ever happen at this stage Shows what he thinks of the public though.

fricatus

I think he'll be remembered as the biggest disappointment of a politician ever. When it was clear that he was Bertie's chosen successor, all the FFers went on about how he was the sharpest, brightest, most capable member of cabinet, even though all the rest of us could see was an arrogant grouch, easily riled and with no communication skills.

Three years on, and we haven't seen this shining light that we were promised - far from it! I saw a shot of him talking to some important looking lady in some European forum, and instead of looking competent and interested, he was there staring away from her with his arms folded, like a farmer in a mart, looking at heifers.

Where are his achievements? As far as I can tell, he did nothing of note in Health, he took his eye off the ball in Finance, and as Taoiseach he would have been a damp squib in the best of times. However in these difficult times he's offered absolutely no leadership.

The best people appear to be able to say about him is that he's "decent" and "honest". Well we expect that of our politicians, although admittedly we rarely get it, but that's far from enough. I can't put my finger on why, but I get the feeling that there's more to this Anglo bailout than meets the eye. Is that why he's clinging so desperately to power? Will the next government find bodies under the patio? If that happens, he won't even have decency or honesty as a defence!

He's had his chance; he and his useless government should just go now.

Flimbos

The Good: I honestly can't think of how we will look back fondly on Brian Cowen's time in office. At a stretch, some of us will have been so angry at Ahern that Cowen's appointment as Taoiseach will have been welcomed initially. That honeymoon period didn't last long though.

The Bad: Where do you start....he'll be remembered as a huge disappointment, both as a minister and as Taoiseach. As Minister for Finance, he'll be remembered for his reckless handling of the construction boom and his ridiculous, populist giveaway budgets. As Taoiseach, his legacy will be his hopeless lack of leadership during the biggest economic crisis in a generation, the decisions made with regard to NAMA, Anglo, the bailouts, his refusal to take responsibility for the pivotal role he played in the downfall of the economy.

The Ugly: Galway all nighter/ Morning Ireland interview/ Jay Leno.... the Conor Casby portraits.... "Conduct unbecoming" in the Dáil (i.e. muttering "f**kers" to Mary Coughlan following a heated Dáil exchange).....Also his poor public image (it's been mentioned already in this thread) - as national leader, he just could not carry himself - at a time when we needed a leader to inspire us and motivate us we got him.

All in all, he'll be remembered as a failure.

block71

Have to say the general consensus is one of total failure I was expecting some hard line FF supporter to come on and blame the world recession as opposed to Mr Cowen and his cohorts and quangos but its just been 100% anti Cowen.
Surely if he is paying all these quangos buckets full of money he is well aware that his poll ratings are at an all time low and that public sentement towards him is one of complete resentment and total failure.
Why dose he just not go now, I think an earlier thread might be onto somthing in relation to revalations about Anglo not beeing at an end yet.
Have to say our alternatives leave a lot to be desired there isnt a decent leader between them

cacambo

We should hang a copy of this in the schools across the country, beside the older one:

Poly

cacambo wrote: »

We should hang a copy of this in the schools across the country, beside the older one:

Nice work, I like the betting slip tucked in there too, maybe an auld beer mat for the historic Galway think in.

PeterIanStaker

He'll be remembered as a stupider, duller, version of Gordon Brown. A man who couldn't handle the fiscal hand grenade left to him, but also was too stubborn to hand it back.


Mind you I'm sure his 3 pensions and an ars€licking book about him written by either Ryan Tubridy or Diarmad Ferriter will ease his pain.

Iorras55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUcddKh5sY

iwhelan

Iorras55 wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUcddKh5sY

Or indeed this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh7bP1phKUM

Joey leBlanc

He will be remembered for being the man who finally removed Fianna Fail from governing our country ever again. He's an absolute disgrace. Like most people in Ireland I am sick to the teeth of all the blanket-economic disaster-movie-media-coverage of the past 2+yrs, yet in that time he had ample time & scope to "try" and make a difference. He did'nt. Quite the opposite in fact!! He has no redeeming qualities. He has no conscience. He and his cronies probably thought the credit crunch abyss of Sept 2008 would pass by like a storm cloud on a summer's afternoon. Nothing to worry about here folks, the sun will shine again in a few months.

Since then it has been an escalating spiral of bad news. The ordinary citizens of Ireland have had to sit back & listen, read & watch about how the people we elected & trusted to look after the country were exposed to be nothing more that a bunch of cowardly, arrogant, superficial thieves. As I said maybe all the electorate has finally been made aware of how corrupt our politicians, bankers or so-called "professionals" have been over the past decade.

It's time for something new. A brave new world. New ideas & a new beginning. An equitable transparent Ireland quite different from the bloated excess of the Celtic Tiger era.

Iorras55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXrcj62qws
:rolleyes: :P

Iorras55

His tanaiste??

lornakg

He'll also be remembered as the 'fall guy' who stupidly took over the sinking ship from Bertie... More fool him....

darsar

I'll just remember him anytime I hear the term 'going forward'.

I thought I was in AH!

lucianot

Is the PM a millionaire given the amount of money he earns every year?
If so and if he keeps the money in an Irish bank, is not he working on the best interest, his and the rest of his fellow country men?
If not and he is keeping the money outside the country, does it make any difference? Can he be accused of treason?