Still going

Going the full 15 rounds

County View
John Healy

FOR the fourth time in what has become an inconclusive Democratic party selection process, Hillary Clinton has once again come back from the political graveyard to turn the tables on Barack Obama.
Presumably, numerous citizens of Ballina took a special interest in the Pennsylvania result, which saw Scranton – Ballina’s twin town – do as predicted and give Clinton a 50-point margin of victory over her rival.
That Pennsylvania result has cast a dark shadow over Obama’s forward march, with increasing doubts being raised about his electability in an eventual hand-to-hand contest against the Republican John McCain. Clinton’s claim that she is tougher, more experienced, more in tune with ordinary voters, and more likely not to wilt under pressure is being borne out as the big primaries come to be decided. Obama is finding it more difficult to explain his policies and to talk himself out of awkward questioning. As the battle hots up, he seems to get more flustered and less in control in comparison to Ms Clinton, whose composure is impressive even when her campaign seems to be heading perilously close to the precipice.
All that said, however, Obama remains the front runner – ahead on the popular vote, ahead on committed delegates and much closer the magic number than Clinton. Either way, it will finally come down to the 800 super delegates, those hard-nosed, unsentimental assessors whose decision will be based on one simple fact – which of the two is more likely to beat McCain and take back the White House after eight years. If they think the best bet is Clinton, then they will have no hesitation in prising the jewel back from Obama’s hands, regardless of how far he is ahead on popular votes. And if they decide otherwise, then all the old-pal loyalty to Bill Clinton and his family will count for nothing.
But the other angle is that time is not on the Democrats’ side. Even while their two candidates fight each other to a standstill, John McCain and the Republicans are making hay. The Democrats badly need to bring this internal war to an end and start concentrating on the bigger fight only a few months away: winning back the US presidency.
Politics being the art of the possible, some method will have to be devised for choosing a candidate without alienating the goodwill of the other and the enormous support that each commands. Rejecting either Clinton or Obama may have disastrous consequences when Democratic voters are called out again in November in the battle of beating McCain.
Make no mistake, the odds are shortening on a solution that will leave both sides happy. The dream ticket solution – Clinton for President, Obama for vice president – gets more attractive all the time. Add in a guarantee that, if elected, Clinton would move aside after one term in office to allow Obama to step up to the plate, and everyone would go home from the Denver convention a whole lot happier.
This primary campaign has taught American politicians two valuable lessons: First, candidates without money cannot aspire to the White House, and, second, the whole method of running primaries and caucuses is full of faults. The obscene amount of money being poured into the fight by Clinton and Obama makes a mockery of the idea that politics is a level playing field. At the beginning of April, Obama had amassed a war chest of $41 million to fund his campaign, Clinton had $9 million to her account. Both candidates have steadily added to those amounts every single day of the campaign.
These are massive amounts of money in a world where millions don’t have enough to eat. A candidate’s competence is measured more by what he or she can spend than an innate ability or suitability for office. This leads to the obvious question: What makes the presidency such a glittering prize that so much wealth is being invested, by nameless and faceless donors, into getting a particular nominee into office? The home of democracy is not nearly the egalitarian society it purports to be. Money still speaks louder than words.

50 years of service
ONE of Castlebar’s best-known community workers was deservedly honoured in Dublin last weekend. John Cunningham, long serving anchor of the Order of Malta unit in Castlebar, was presented with the President’s Medal of the Order at a special ceremony.
Judge Peter Smithwick, President of the Order of Malta in Ireland, made the formal presentation of the coveted gold medal to the Castlebar man before an invited audience of proud family and friends.
Glowing tributes were paid to John by Judge Smithwick in recognition of his sterling and unselfish service to the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps, and in particular his dedicated work with young people and to their development as citizens.
In addition, a second medal to salute 50 years of service to the Order was also presented. Colleagues from across the country spoke highly of John’s quiet but effective determination in building the Castlebar unit into one of the most admired throughout the Order of Malta. Under his guidance, the unit has gone from strength to strength, with its own fine headquarters at Pavilion Road, its dedicated ambulance vehicles, and a membership that over the years has encompassed hundreds of young boys and girls, as well as adult volunteers.
Also present at the ceremony was John’s wife, Mary, who as the power behind the throne, has done so much to encourage and support her husband in all his endeavours. Her pride in her husband’s achievements will be shared by the entire Castlebar community – the parents of his cadet members past and present, the many sporting and voluntary organisations that have been helped in practical fashion by the Order of Malta, and by the members themselves. In John Cunningham they have a leader, a guide and a benevolent tutor, whose work in helping youngsters become responsible citizens is valuable beyond measure.

Bev’s Ballyhaunis roadblock
IT WAS another irony of Fianna Fáil politics that the only person who resisted Beverley Flynn’s (pictured) readmission to the party at national level was former constituency organiser John O’Dwyer of Ballyhaunis.
The fact that it was a Mayo representative on the party’s national executive who stood up to both Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen minutes before the meeting at which Flynn was readmitted was not lost on the national media. If ‘The Sunday Tribune’ is to be believed, the Ballyhaunis solicitor, acting in his capacity as chairman of Fianna Fáil’s ethics committee, told both men that her readmission would not be in line with official procedure. The fact that his caveat was given short shrift by both Ahern and Cowen did not stop the paper from according it front page prominence.
Within a day, however, spokesmen for both the old and new leaders had issued statements denying flatly that the little hiccup had ever happened and claimimg that no such doorstep discussion had taken place.
No smoke without fire, though, and it did not go unnoticed that the Ahern and Cowen denials were not matched by a similar statement from O’Dwyer, who chose to keep his own counsel. As a solicitor, he presumably offered his advice for what it was worth; to do otherwise would have been remiss on his part. The fact that the advice was given a frosty reception was, as he saw it, neither here nor there.