A Different View
Takes a wise man to know when to leave the stage
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
It’s easy to throw stones at Nigel Farage – metaphorically of course before any of his many enemies goes off in search of a catapult – because he may well epitomise the reptilian world of politics.
But you have to say one thing for him; he was a man with a plan which he stuck to for two decades and then executed with clinical aplomb.
Then, on the crest of his finest hour, he left the political stage – because he set out with one aim, one job to do, and now his work was done.
And that’s a rare thing – someone who has a clear vision, who executes that vision and then vacates the stage because the job is oxo.
The temptation is to wait, to enjoy that taste of success, to bask in the glory, to enjoy a little while at the top after all of the struggle to get there.
You’d be forgiven for living off your success for a little while, for taking it easy and putting your feet up on the desk that you’ve coveted for so long.
There is one anomaly to Nigel of course because he hasn’t quite left the stage entirely – irony of ironies for a man whose avowed ambition was to get Britain out of Europe, he still draws a salary as an MEP.
And as reprehensible as he may be, you couldn’t help but doff your cap begrudgingly in his direction as he told his fellow European Parliamentarians: “When I told you what I wanted to do 17 years ago, you all laughed. Well who’s laughing now?”
There is something in all of us that makes us hang around too long; we’ve become familiar with our work, comfortable in our surroundings; we feel we’ve earned the right to coast just a little bit after coming through such choppy waters.
Our own political Machiavelli, Charles J Haughey, liked to think of himself as Ireland’s equivalent of a Chinese Emperor which, he was quick to point out, meant he could effectively go on for ever.
In the end, he fell back on Othello instead in his resignation speech, his final day as Taoiseach: “I have done the State some service; they know’t. No more of that”.
The service turned out to be of the self-serving variety but that’s for another day – in Haughey’s defence, he just wanted the same as the rest of us….to hang around a little longer.
Sports stars do it all the time; eek out one more year at the top to enjoy the adulation and forget that the knees are showing more signs of wear and tear than an eighty year old man’s.
Pop stars will go on at least one farewell world tour – only to follow it with the comeback concerts and eventually the farewells all over again.
Politicians won’t necessarily leave even if they fail to get elected – they’ll bounce back come the next election, only to eventually prove that other reptile, Enoch Powell’s pronouncement that all political careers ultimately end in failure.
Of course there are practical reasons to hang on too; you continue to get paid, for one thing, whereas a pension wouldn’t pay you enough to feed the cat, never mind the family.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.