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Michael D Higgins

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  • 13-02-2012 1:55pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭


    So it's been 3 months since Michael D. was made President.

    Michael promised us a presidency based on inclusive citizenship, social justice, participation, equality and respect. Of course he also trotted out the two most overused but hollow words in election campaigns - "Fairness and Equality".

    All I've seen so far is a couple of good nights out at the rugby and the IFTA's.

    I don't expect him to have changed the world but has he made any meaningful utterance or contribution to Irish life since he was elected?

    Shouldn't this guy's role be reviewed so there can be some measurement of it's usefulness?

    Will we ever learn not to listen to the nonsense these freeloaders spew to us when they want something?


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 17,101 ✭✭✭✭Neil3030


    Piss off, Gallagher.

    Sore loser.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,360 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    BackScrub wrote: »
    Shouldn't this guy's role be reviewed so there can be some measurement of it's usefulness?

    That's always gonna be a tall order for a short man.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    I once, in a very drunken state, told him he'd be the best man to get those foreigners out.

    He shook my hand, smiled and said "Yes, Yes, of course".

    He has yet to get those foreigners out.


  • Registered Users Posts: 789 ✭✭✭The Internet Explorer


    Michael D, a great lad.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,846 ✭✭✭Fromthetrees


    He's a figure head, he doesn't set policy. :rolleyes:


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,542 ✭✭✭Captain Darling


    I saw him in watching a match in the Hole in the Wall pub beside the Phoenix Park a few weeks ago. He said hello to me on the way out. Seems like a very nice man.

    What relevance does this have to the thread? None. Deal with it!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,462 ✭✭✭✭WoollyRedHat


    He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!

    * Secret diary of a call girl*


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,812 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    This guy?
    Seems handy to have about the house:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 937 ✭✭✭swimming in a sea


    he impressed me at the rugby match, laughing and joking with the players not like that stuck up bitch that was there before him.

    as for him doing something, the president can't do **** and anybody who believed any of the election waffle should get a grip.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,903 ✭✭✭Napper Hawkins


    I, for one, am proud that Ireland has progressed so far that even a hobbit can become president.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭BackScrub


    He's a figure head, he doesn't set policy. :rolleyes:

    I'm aware of that, no need for the smart alec smiley.

    I listed the qualities HE said his presidency would be about. Have YOU seen or heard him portray those qualities in any way?


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,101 ✭✭✭✭Neil3030


    I have never been more proud of my country than the day we elected a president who once called Michael Graham a wanker. Michael D can spend the next seven years on a beach in the Costa del Sol for all I care.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    3 months into a 7 year term and we're already bitching that he hasn't changed the world.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,050 ✭✭✭token101


    BackScrub wrote: »
    So it's been 3 months since Michael D. was made President.

    Michael promised us a presidency based on inclusive citizenship, social justice, participation, equality and respect. Of course he also trotted out the two most overused but hollow words in election campaigns - "Fairness and Equality".

    All I've seen so far is a couple of good nights out at the rugby and the IFTA's.

    I don't expect him to have changed the world but has he made any meaningful utterance or contribution to Irish life since he was elected?

    Shouldn't this guy's role be reviewed so there can be some measurement of it's usefulness?

    Will we ever learn not to listen to the nonsense these freeloaders spew to us when they want something?

    Is Michael D on the dole now?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    He's a figure head, he doesn't set policy. :rolleyes:

    ~He is a shiny head is what he is.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,528 ✭✭✭foxyboxer


    Sorry to disappoint the OP I am.
    Do better in future I will.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    BackScrub wrote: »
    I'm aware of that, no need for the smart alec smiley.

    On AH that smiley is actually used to indicate the poster doesn't want to appear offensive or condescending when correcting someone. It's more of a courtesy than anything else.

    :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,246 ✭✭✭✭Riamfada


    DjFlin wrote: »
    3 months into a 7 year term and we're already bitching that he hasn't changed the world.

    hes never going to change anything. Hes the president. Anyone who believed he would is an idiot


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,156 ✭✭✭Iwannahurl


    BackScrub wrote: »
    So it's been 3 months since Michael D. was made President.

    Michael promised us a presidency based on inclusive citizenship, social justice, participation, equality and respect. Of course he also trotted out the two most overused but hollow words in election campaigns - "Fairness and Equality".

    All I've seen so far is a couple of good nights out at the rugby and the IFTA's.

    I don't expect him to have changed the world but has he made any meaningful utterance or contribution to Irish life since he was elected?

    Shouldn't this guy's role be reviewed so there can be some measurement of it's usefulness?

    Will we ever learn not to listen to the nonsense these freeloaders spew to us when they want something?






    Did you vote for him, OP?


  • Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭BackScrub


    Iwannahurl wrote: »
    Did you vote for him, OP?

    I didn't vote for any of them. I wanted to but I just couldn't pick one candidate who I thought suitable for the job.

    It was a farce of a campaign from day one and not one of them rose above that farce well enough. Michael essentially won because he was the one with the least to say.

    He behaved the most 'presidential' of the candidates throughout, but now that he's had some time in the job, he's had nothing to offer so far. Of course, I expected very little from him or anyone else, but I would like to see people who run campaigns on promises at least attempt to demonstrate some of them at some point.

    I guess my problem is accountability. We vote people into offices over and over again and simply never have them justify their position. I'm tired of seeing them getting away with it but we're the suckers who fall for their nonsense every few years.

    If we don't question the role of the President now, we sure as hell won't question it in come the next election.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,239 ✭✭✭✭KeithAFC


    I think it was one of the greatest things that could happen to the Irish Republic when Michael got elected. Not only does he come across well but he stopped possibly the two worst candidates to have ever run in any election in Irish history winning. He deserves respect for that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,920 ✭✭✭Einhard


    He's made a few thought provoking speeches recently on the choices facing this country in the future, and how we need to match our desire for economic growth with a concomitant push for more cultural, intellectual, and social vibrancy. At the very least, he's asking the right questions and raising important issues that might otherwise be sidelined by a media obsessed with the economy.

    It's not really his fault OH if you don't pay enough attention to current affairs to have picked up on these fairly prominent speeches.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭Captain Graphite


    KeithAFC wrote: »
    I think it was one of the greatest things that could happen to the Irish Republic when Michael got elected. Not only does he come across well but he stopped possibly the two worst candidates to have ever run in any election in Irish history winning. He deserves respect for that.

    Dana and Gay Mitchell were shocking alright. But even without Michael D neither of them would have won. A great man like Martin McGuinness would have stopped them! :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    BackScrub wrote: »
    So it's been 3 months since Michael D. was made President.

    Michael promised us a presidency based on inclusive citizenship, social justice, participation, equality and respect. Of course he also trotted out the two most overused but hollow words in election campaigns - "Fairness and Equality".

    All I've seen so far is a couple of good nights out at the rugby and the IFTA's.

    I don't expect him to have changed the world but has he made any meaningful utterance or contribution to Irish life since he was elected?

    Shouldn't this guy's role be reviewed so there can be some measurement of it's usefulness?

    Will we ever learn not to listen to the nonsense these freeloaders spew to us when they want something?


    ....you did know about how little the president could do before ye got all emotionally invested, didn't ye?


  • Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭BackScrub


    Einhard wrote: »
    He's made a few thought provoking speeches recently on the choices facing this country in the future, and how we need to match our desire for economic growth with a concomitant push for more cultural, intellectual, and social vibrancy. At the very least, he's asking the right questions and raising important issues that might otherwise be sidelined by a media obsessed with the economy.

    It's not really his fault OH if you don't pay enough attention to current affairs to have picked up on these fairly prominent speeches.

    Speeches made at the Trinity Economic Forum are hardly prominent. By definition, they are railing against a presidency of inclusion. Hard to get much more exclusive than that audience.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,920 ✭✭✭Einhard


    BackScrub wrote: »
    Speeches made at the Trinity Economic Forum are hardly prominent. By definition, they are railing against a presidency of inclusion. Hard to get much more exclusive than that audience.

    I would have thought it was the perfect audience for the message contained in the speech.

    There have been other speeches too. the excellent one he gave to the heads of universities on accepting the Honoroary Doctorate from NUI is another example.

    As I said, he's asking the right questions and raising some important issues that would otherwise be sidelined.

    I don't know what you were expecting really, but given the limitations inherent in his position, I think he's doing a good job.

    I seriously doubt, for example, that Seanie Gallagher would be raising the same issues in such a passionate, eloquent way.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,239 ✭✭✭✭KeithAFC


    Dana and Gay Mitchell were shocking alright. But even without Michael D neither of them would have won. A great man like Martin McGuinness would have stopped them! :pac:
    Shows you how bad the politicians in the Republic are. Gay Mitchell was an absolute hero when standing up to Martin Mcguinness and getting his view across. Same with Miriam O'Callaghan.


  • Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭BackScrub


    Nodin wrote: »
    ....you did know about how little the president could do before ye got all emotionally invested, didn't ye?

    I made no emotional investment in the role or the manifesto which got him there.
    I'm rather unemotionally questioning the role and why we elect people with meaningless statements and then don't hold them to account.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,183 ✭✭✭dvpower


    BackScrub wrote: »
    All I've seen so far is a couple of good nights out at the rugby and the IFTA's.
    What research have you done? Fro example, have you been following his schedule of engagements?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    KeithAFC wrote: »
    Gay Mitchell was an absolute hero

    Gay Mitchell is anything and everything but a hero.


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