Let us today - just for today - praise an ordinary man, Bertie Ahern, writes Vincent Browne.
Whatever misgivings we may have on his mutilation of the English language, on the unfairness of his PD-led Government, on his dodging and weaving over corruption in Fianna Fáil, even on the deeply-flawed EU constitution, this ordinary man has had spectacular success in the last few days and, possibly, will have yet more spectacular success on the way in the next few months.
The old joke that Bertie proves that anyone can grow up to be Taoiseach and anyone who doesn't grow up can be leader of the Opposition is a little unfair here. For although ordinary in so many ways - indeed exuberantly ordinary - he has some extraordinary qualities, human and political, which go some way towards explaining his successes.
Before I go any further, let me say I barely know Bertie. We have had a few drinking sessions over the years, the last seven years ago, in October 1997, when he invited me for several pints in a northside pub and afterwards I wondered what it was all about until later I heard of a rumour going around that I was about to publish something potentially personally embarrassing to him.
Only then did I realise the drinking session was to suss out what it was I knew. As it happened I knew nothing and, had I known anything of the kind rumoured, I certainly would not have published it, even if the rumour were true, which it wasn't. But there we stood for hour after hour taking rubbish, me wondering what was going on and he (I assume, in retrospect) wondering what was going on.
Winning the agreement of 25 heads of government to the new European Union constitution, whatever you think of the constitution, was a remarkable achievement. And whatever you think of the constitution, you have to acknowledge it goes a long way towards making sense of the institutional arrangements in the wake of the accession of 10 new member states.
The Italians had failed spectacularly to make any headway in getting agreement on this during the tenure of their presidency in the last six months of last year. The French had failed to get agreement in Nice to institutional change to deal with enlargement - the Nice Treaty was a cop-out because of that. So too did other presidencies over the last three to four years. It took Bertie to get a deal and, arguably, there is no one else in Europe right now who could have done so.
His capacity for engendering trust, friendships, camaraderie must have been a crucial asset. His non-threatening aura, complemented by that stuttering, diffident demeanour is assuring. They would not have thought him capable of putting one over on them, well not unless absolutely he had to.
Yea, yea, he negotiated the constitution very much within the agenda confines of the Euro-debate. No regard, for instance, for substantive democracy. That argument is for another day. The point here is simply Bertie did the business for the European Union as we know it and it was a very substantial achievement.
Martin Mansergh said of him once (it sounds like faint praise until one thinks about it): Bertie has the capacity in a conflict situation never to say or do anything that makes matters worse, no mater how provoked, or how personally insulted. It is a formidable capacity, quite beyond the power of many of us. It suggests a personal confidence, strong discipline, and an ability to see beyond immediate offence.
Coinciding with that European triumph was the successful completion of another round of national pay talks. Again, there are reasons to be critical of the talks: the manner in which they copperfasten inequalities, the way they are negotiated outside democratic institutions. But there is a general agreement they are a "good thing" and Bertie has pulled that off again. Indeed, he has been the architect all along of these agreements, which, it is said, have been a key ingredient of our economic success.
Then in the last few days news came from the Central Statistics Office of another hugely successful year in terms of job creation and prospects of even more success on that front in the current year. And perhaps in a few weeks or months he will be pivotal in getting the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement up and running again - his role in the peace process has been critical and his part in the negotiation of the Belfast Agreement central.
Yes, his Government has failed to manage the health service, it has shamelessly favoured the rich and powerful, it has allowed its justice minister to pick off one vulnerable group after another, it was the sponsor of the racist campaign to change the constitutional provisions on citizenship, it has given aid and comfort to the illegal invasion of Iraq. That's all political and all important.
He may not be the right person for the presidency of the EU Commission and, anyway, would probably hate it. Many of us might not wish him to be Taoiseach for much longer. But for today, I want only to acknowledge the extraordinary qualities of this ordinary, nice, decent man.