According to the Sunday Tribune, she’s being pushed as a candidate. According to today’s Irish Times, she’s not interested. Ouch Tribune. Try to get your front page verified a bit more next time, eh?
Though the sources that the paper used were vague in the extreme, I actually believed it. The Presidency is one of those positions that just seem to attract this kind of candidate. Remember all the Independents in 97?
But, no, she won’t run and even if she had, she wouldn’t have become President. Getting nominated without a party backing her up would have been very difficult. She’d have had little funding to help an election campaign. RTE would have been even more dicey with their political coverage, due to their connection. And all an oppenant would have to do is to say “Look what happened with George Lee” to bring her down.
And it’s not an unfair point. Let’s just take a look at the President’s four main roles and how O’ Callaghan matches up:
Political: She has no political experience. Bizarrely, the Tribune tries to paint this as a good thing. It’s not. The President is still a political office and involves interactions with the political system of Ireland.
Legislative/Judicial: She’s a trained solicitor, though she never practiced. So she’s got that.
Diplomatic: No experience whatsoever, unless you want to count working in England for a while.
Military: No experience.
Sorry Miriam. You’re not qualified for the job. Good call on not going for it.
I’ll admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of her anyway. She strikes me as a sort of “GOTCHA!” style interviewer, who seems to be agreeing with anyone she speaks with, while looking for a slip-up. I’m not exactly sure why she is so popular.
If the George Lee fiasco taught us anything, it’s that political office is best suited to politicians. Reporting on political matters doesn’t mean you should be the head of state. That’s like saying I’m qualified to be Chief of Staff for the IDF.
