03.27.06
Waters on McDowell
John prolongs the entertainment for us – hilarious (I think unintentionally) column today. I love this bit
“It seems obvious from his general behaviour and increasingly frequent outbursts that Mr McDowell is afflicted by some kind of progressive emotional malaise, at the back of which may lie a deep sense of disappointment, even despair. Several clues to the source of this condition were to be observed in his recent speech to a PD event in Waterford, in which he likened the present coalition administration to a sandwich. “It’s not the more bulky bread which gives a sandwich its taste,” he declared. “Rather, it’s the meat which gives a sandwich its flavour. . . I have to say that I find the focus on who will be the next taoiseach to be significantly overblown. If the history of the last 35 years has taught us anything, it is that the most important party in a government is not the senior party but the junior party. The larger party may provide the taoiseach, but the junior party provides the essential direction of the government.”
This provoked much commentary focusing on the political implications, but none on what it told us about the emotional state of the Minister. One requires no more than a casual knowledge of Freud to comprehend it as a cry for help, a vainglorious protestation that says more in its subtext than its superficialities. His choice of metaphor suggests that Mr McDowell feels not merely trapped but trapped by lesser entities. With his high-protein PD colleagues, he feels squeezed by thick wedges of simple carbohydrates. But even more interesting is that he referred to a meat sandwich rather than some of the more exotic sorts of fillings – lentils and brandy butter, avocado and tulip – one would expect to be consumed in his own constituency. Here we find a hint as to the Minister’s disaffection: despite his trumpeting of the self-importance of the PDs, he feels himself party to a hang sangwich.”
hee hee.
ang said,
March 27, 2006 at 11:52 am
.. I haven’t the faintest idea what John Waters is on about… a regular state I find myself in. Psychobabble with a touch of fashionable dietbabble to try and define McDowell.. I don’t think so.. Am I imagining things but is there some obsession with McDowell going on in general… If there is, he wins hands down!
Sarah said,
March 27, 2006 at 12:30 pm
yes, John gets more and more obscure doesn’t he? and in this case quite wrong. In fact I would say McD congratulates himself on getting out of FG..after all the PDs have seen him into office..while Baby Brutal et al languish on the opposition benches. Still, nothing if not entertaining.
auds said,
March 27, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Freudian interpretation – Waters has McWiliams’ envy. (Note pseudopsychosocial emphasis)
I think it’s a very funny column, but I’m a Waters fan (most of the time)
Sarah said,
March 27, 2006 at 5:36 pm
do you mean McDowell envy?
It is a funny column..the question is, did he mean it to be?
auds said,
March 27, 2006 at 9:24 pm
I think he did mean to be. he has a keen sense of humour.
No, I mean McWilliams envy – the ability to make seemingly profound cultural and political statements based on outdoor landscaping, bouncy castle and sandwich preference.
Waters is attempting to be the thinking man’s anthropologist in South Dublin, using ironic postmodern cross-rural/urban references to the traditional GAA “hang sandwhich” standard in an attempt to delineate McDowell’s political appeal.
It’s an impressive attempt, that unfortunately falls flat in its execution, simply becuase we do not believe his earnest attempt at the new standard of Irish opinion columntry.
Blankpaige said,
March 28, 2006 at 10:06 am
Love Water’s column and love the comments. They say that a true wit knows when to stop flogging a dead analogy but I can’t help myself. I think Water’s has a point here. Clearly Micky beag is on a high GI diet. (Goebbels Index?).