Will Enda Kenny’s Tombstone say Irish water on it?
Leaders
When leaders are in power they are usually in for a number of years and put loads of bills through parliament. They spend most of their time on it.
However, leaders are usually remembered for a maximum of three things – and it is usually one.
Think of Tony Blair for example. What’s his legacy? What do people think of when they hear his name? It’s the war in Iraq.
He did lots of other things including helping bring the peace to Northern Ireland but it will be the Iraq War that will be on his political headstone.
UK Political Headstones
Here are a number of leaders from the UK and what they will be remembered for:-
Harold Wilson – Devaluation of the Pound
Edward Heath – Miners Strike with resulting Three Day Week
Jim Callaghan – Winter of Discontent
Margaret Thatcher – Miners’ Strike, Falklands War and Poll Tax
John Major – Black Wednesday
Tony Blair – Iraq War
Gordon Brown – Financial Collapse
David Cameron – Too soon to say buy maybe rise of UKIP
US Political Headstones
If we look at US leaders:-
John Kennedy – Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall Speech, Starter of Space Race
Lyndon Johnson – Vietnam War, Civil Rights Laws
Richard Nixon – Watergate, détente with Russia and China
Gerald Ford – Nothing
Jimmy Carter – Failed Rescue Mission in Iran
Ronald Reagan – Collapse of Communism (Mr Gorbachev, Tear Down Those Walls), Trickle Down Economics
George Bush Senior – Nothing
Bill Clinton – Monica Lewinsky, Economic Boom
George W Bush – War in Iraq
Barak Obama – Obamacare, Killing of Osama Bin Laden
Irish Political Headstones
So, you see, you are remembered for no more than three things and it is more likely to be just one thing.
I don’t know Irish politics so well but I would venture the following
Bertie Ahern – Celtic Tiger and Brown Envelopes
Biffo – Bank Guarantee and Bailout
Enda Kenny – Irish Water?
Politicians try so hard to get to the top and want to do so many things and succeed in doing many things – but they are only remembered for 1-3 of them by most people.
Of all the things that Tony Blair did in more than a decade in power it is the Iraq War and his cozying up to George W Bush that will be remembered. That will be what is on his political headstone.
On Enda Kenny’s headstone will it say Irish Water?