We don’t have Barack Obama, so Enda Kenny will just have to do

FINE GAEL intends hosting 30 so-called “town hall meetings” throughout the country between now and Christmas in an American-style appeal to the electorate.

Although both US Democrats and Republicans indulge in this form of allowing the people to meet their political representatives in public it is an initiative that our voters are likely to associate with President-elect Barack Obama’s tactical success. Now that we are seeing “change” in the US — and seismic change at that — the implication that Fine Gael wants to push is that Ireland is seeking something similar. The drawback is that Fine Gael doesn’t have a Barack Obama-style person to promote through these meetings.

Notwithstanding that, Fine Gael and its leader Enda Kenny clearly hope that they will be the beneficiaries of a desire for change, especially with Fianna Fáil’s popularity plummeting to previously unseen depths in the opinion polls and Fine Gael opening a sizeable lead for the first time ever.