The Presidential candidates aren't perfect, but they're the best we can muster

Opinion: The dark tango is almost over!

Gallagher, Michael D, Norris, Mary Davis and some SpunOut.ie people before the SpunOut.ie Presidential Debate.

They’re not perfect, these contenders, but they’re the best we can muster, and in weal or woe they’re eager to represent us and take upon their heaving backs the pride and hopes of a nation. They entered the arena and competed for our approval and affection, taking flak and sustaining damage, sometimes feeling bitter and hard done-by, but never loosing sight of the final goal. In their best moments, they’ve basked like beaded lizards in the warm applause and adoration of thousands, and in their worst they’ve elicited horror and the shaking of heads from supporters who looked on nervously with clenched fists. They’ve fought under hot lights and sweated like pigs in front of TV cameras for our amusement.

Now, after a long and cruel campaign and a shameless display of shortfalls, we must get behind them for the final push. Many puddles must be stepped in on the road to victory, and they’ve waded through their share, seizing on their opponents with trembling fangs and wide bright eyes to come to the point of knocking at the gates of greatness. They’re so close now they can taste it on their lolling tongues as they come slavering over the last hurdle to tie their names to history and claim a place in Euro 2012.

Whatever karmic connections can be made between the Armenia game and Paris two years ago, it proves that national guilt is easily overcome. From watching the rigmarole of the Presidential campaign unfold over the last several weeks, this is just as well. Like in politics, there were no reservations about claiming foul play to discredit an opponent and get them removed. And to think Simon Cox was sorry for joining in the chorus of “hand ball” with his team mates and 50,000 spectators is to underestimate his desire to do whatever it takes to get the bulge on his opposition.

Gay Mitchell knows this urge, and perhaps knows more than the other candidates about dealing with accusations of dirty tricks. But the winner this time will not be someone who had to sink to that lower echelon. His attempts to dent McGuinness have been an abysmal failure. They didn’t prevent McGuinness getting a warm reception when he canvassed here in Galway earlier this month, and they won’t stop Mitchell himself from being beaten like a wanton stepchild at the polls this Thursday.

Mitchell is the second least popular candidate on the NUI Galway campus, where the stage is set for a NUI Galway vs. TCD clash between Michael D. Higgins and David Norris. Norris was top of the national opinion polls in September, before he actually got on the ballot. Since then his campaign has shot off in the reverse direction like a horse badly spooked, yet he has remained in second place here in NUI Galway as students have been able to see past the controversies and harmful media coverage.

This has been hard to do during a campaign where candidates have cannibalised each other like rival chimps and debates have focused on the reasons why we shouldn’t vote for them. For his past membership in Fianna Fail, Seán Gallagher has been vilified and treated like someone who secretly runs over dogs at night. But the public don’t seem to care. In the last few weeks Gallagher, whose “listening tour” of the country began in Galway in July, has experienced a freakish ascent with the latest Red C poll showing him leading Michael D. by over 10%.

All the candidates have had to face their own bugaboos, some having to produce their own roorback just to stay noticed. It has been the running theme in an election mired in the past. Nationally and here in NUI Galway, Higgins, who addressed students here in September, has managed to stay in front for the majority of the campaign almost by default. Like marine snow the NUIG graduate and lecturer has floated through proceedings gracefully without any major blunders, and but for Gallagher’s divine rise would have the Presidency all but sealed up.

The dark tango is almost over. Seven candidates on the field and seven years at stake. One month in the main vortex and one victor. And thanks to negative coverage, probably seven more reasons to vote against any of them than for. As happens in our electoral system, many people will cast their votes by eliminating from the bottom up, more sure of who they don’t want than who they do. Or just going with whoever can best outrun their past.

Ian Colgan

Article thanks to the lovely folks at Sin Newspaper, NUIG. Enjoy more top articles: sin.ie, Facebook & Twitter

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