Cowen may be hung out to dry just for creating a bad impression

ASSUMING the next crop of opinion polls is dire, it will soon be all over for Brian Cowen. A fish rots from the head down and Fianna Fáil knows it. He will go down in history as the party’s shortest-serving leader.

The perception — one created as much by the largely unregulated online media as the traditional papers and broadcasting channels — is that the country is led by someone who has already damaged Ireland’s fragile international reputation, and has the potential to do so again.

Many will say there is a basic unfairness if that’s what transpires — to which the response must be, democratic politics isn’t fair. All political careers are subject to the whims of voters — damn them. Unlike politicians, we are allowed to change our minds, no questions asked.