OUTSIDE POLITICS:The politicians who earn respect seek to do what they think is right even if it is not popular, or seems unattainable
I SPENT some of the best years of my professional life as a journalist watching politicians. It's funny how things that seemed important then, things one would work very hard to accomplish, somehow don't seem to matter that much, once you step outside the "bubble" that is Leinster House.
Those things that were important were "stories". It was important to get them, and even better to get them before the Indogot them. These 400- to 500-word items told readers some detail or other of the political process: the Government had announced it would do something; the Government had done something it would prefer not to announce. A politician had said or done something yesterday which was different to what he or she had said some other time (ah, the joy of the U-turn story). An Opposition politician pointed to some Government failing and condemned it. Best of all, the newspaper had found out something that people in power would prefer wasn't published.
Two years ago, I moved to "the dark side", as journalists and PR people call it. I'm now a public affairs consultant with Murray Consultants and I see things from a different perspective. Daily developments in the Leinster House "bubble" do not dominate conversation here. As a relative newcomer to this normality it is striking for me to observe the level of indifference to, and cynicism about, politics as it is practised in this country.
This is a shame because at its best politics offers hope, and the best politicians courageously lead change. Occasionally a Clinton or a Blair comes along and sweep to power, their rhetoric and commitment allowing voters to be optimistic that this time, things will really change. Look at the crowds Barack Obama is drawing now in what John McCain has called his celebrity campaign. People may be cynical about politicians, but they want to believe in one too.
The great disappointment lies in seeing politicians with the skills to lead and effect change using their abilities simply to hold onto power once there. Charles Haughey was the dominant political figure of his generation, but he never sought to lead people anywhere; the famed 1987 spending cuts were a reversal of Fianna Fáil policy from 1982 to 1987 and only came about when Haughey needed Fine Gael quiescence to stay in power.
Similarly, Bertie Ahern had extraordinary political gifts. But it is the Progressive Democrats and Charlie McCreevy who most left their mark on Irish society over the past decade. Apart from his negotiating triumphs, is there a recognisable Ahern legacy aside from the fact that he won and held office through three elections?
On that RTÉ Radio 1 weekend programme during which well known guests get to choose their favourite music, they used to be asked to pick their favourite historical recording. My recollection is of being struck by the number of Irish political guests who chose Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Caught up in the permanent struggle to win a seat, retain a seat, win promotion, avoid demotion and be seen in a good light by all, they still want to believe it is about offering hope too.
But what endures about Martin Luther King was not just that his rhetoric offered hope - his actions offered leadership. He had a dream which was pretty unpopular in some quarters, but he was willing to use his skills and risk everything to persuade others of its merits. Too much politics now is about following public opinion, but great politicians don't follow it, they lead it.
The politicians who ultimately earn respect are those who offer a vision and seek to persuade people to support it. They are those who seek to do what they think is right even if it is not immediately popular, or does not seem to be attainable. Some such are John Hume, who persisted with talks with Gerry Adams even while he was being denounced with great vitriol; John Bruton, who led the case for a Yes vote in the 1996 divorce referendum despite the opposition of a sizeable amount of his conservative support; Tony Blair, when he persisted with the invasion of Iraq (you don't have to think he was right to recognise the courage involved); Mary Harney, in pursuing her vision of the health services (and you don't have to think she is right either).
These politicians displayed the ambition exemplified by President John F Kennedy who, the year before Martin Luther King made his speech, made the (at the time) very ambitious commitment to land a person on the moon before the end of the decade. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," he said.
And those who choose to do things because they are hard sometimes fall short, or even fail. They inevitably get sucked into the world of compromise and frustration that comes with trying to get things done.
It is not these who attract public cynicism - it is the ones who look like they would say anything if it suited. The giving of hollow assurances (the economy will be just fine, etc) coupled with the absence of any coherent vision have led to the current public cynicism about Irish politics.
It is not the way it has to be. In my first year as an Irish Timesreporter in 1986 I covered loyalist riots against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, funerals of IRA men and RUC men, and press conferences in London by the growing campaign to free the Birmingham Six. Politics changed all these things.
That year lights continued to go out in factories around Ireland, my emigrant friends came back home for Christmas, I visited Moscow behind something called the Iron Curtain. Politics changed all that too.
Politicians are not "all the same". They are not all "out for themselves". Like most people they are typically driven by a number of factors: ego, self-interest, insecurity, money, but also the idea that they might do some good along the way. Politics makes a difference. It changes things and when it does, it defeats cynicism.
Mark Brennock worked for The Irish Times from 1986 to 2006 and is now director of public affairs with Murray Consultants
Stephen Collins's Inside Politics column will return in September