|
|
|
|
|
Pace yourself on Patrick’s Day, Cowen advises Americans
14 March 2010 By Niall Stanage and Pat Leahy
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has set the scene for his US visit with a wide-ranging TV interview in which he compares himself to Obama, who he says is ‘‘a better politician than I am’’; says it has taken time for Irish people to recognise the scale of the economic crisis; and offers some tips to Americans on how to pace themselves through a long St Patrick’s Day.
Asked by US television channel Fox Business if he had a message for Irish-Americans preparing to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, the Taoiseach responded with the advice: ‘‘As I always say, take it easy early in the day. It’s a long day."
Cowen is in Chicago this weekend, and will then travel to Silicon Valley in California for meetings with business leaders before arriving in Washington, where he will present the traditional bowl of shamrock to Obama on Wednesday. He said he looked forward to meeting Obama again.
‘‘I had my first meeting with him this time last year . . . he’ s a very charming, intelligent, excellent politician, a person I get on with well personally. Obviously, we will compare our scorecards on the economy and how we can help each other."
Asked by the Fox Business interviewer about his own low poll ratings, Cowen replied: ‘‘We’re not having an election till 2012, so that helps."
The interviewer said that Obama, ‘‘who has made some decisions that weren’t always the most popular short-term political decisions, has an approval rating up somewhere around 50 per cent’’.
Cowen replied: ‘‘Well, I concede he’s a better politician than I am. The bottom line for me is that we have this job to do . . . obviously it’s been taking some time for the Irish people to recognise not just the size of the problem but how we can get out of it. But we have a plan in place, we have a good sharp economy, and we have good industries and we have good people."
|
|
|
