Fine Gael Miss The Boat

The opportunity could hardly have presented itself any more perfectly. George Lee departs the party in a blaze of publicity carrying loud whisperings about the leadership of Enda Kenny on his way out. This was the chance for the Fine Gael party to grasp the bull by the horns and force a leadership contest. With a leader in situ who appears only to inspire confidence from a select grouping within his own ranks the canvas was set. Are we to take from this that Richard Bruton, as the obvious candidate, didn't have the stomach for the fight? The spin is that Bruton is too loyal to his leader but as a man of great wisdom he can surely see that Kenny is siphoning confidence away from the public at an alarming rate. His inept performances on the Late Late & Newstalk have taken the most recent headlines, yet Kenny has long been a poor public performer and communicator. His obvious successes are rebuilding and organising the party after the 2002 general election blowout. His leadership ability has rarely come in for praise however. He can mostly be seen delivering populist soundbites and coming in second at debate time. The feeling amongst an educated and informed electorate is that Kenny never really shows the conviction and gravitas needed to galvanise a country so desperately in need of a saviour figure.
The Fianna Fail government is dredging the ocean floor with a leader who has rarely been seen to lift the nations mood with clear lines of communication. Add to this two successive difficult budgets with the promise of more to come and Fine Gael should be making hay. In fact they should be out of sight. This isn't the case. In fact recent opinion polls see gains for Fianna Fail and stagnant ratings for Kenny. This simply doesn't tally and is as clear as day to an increasingly disillusioned swing vote. The sooner Fine Gale grasp this leadership issue by the horns then the closer they will come to power.