As good as it gets (for Kenny)

Ahead of tonight’s speech by Enda Kenny, Cian at Irish Election had the most salient analysis of the Fine Gael leader’s task:

Kenny tonight has a huge task to prove he can converse with the ISME voter, the person with whom Fine Gael want to be associated… Kenny is the dealbreaker. His performance tonight is a barometer of whether the party is moving toward power or standing in the midst of a dervish, unmoving while all around them are in flux. If he doesn’t pull it off Lucinda will be the tip of the iceberg.

I think we can safely say that Kenny did as much as he could tonight to seal the deal with voters, particularly small business owners and out-of-work professionals and ABC1s – what Cian termed ‘ISME voters’.

No income tax increases and the abolition of employers’ PSRI for every new job created should play to that section of the electorate. He also reiterated other populist initiatives announced by FG in recent weeks, such as reducing the number of junior ministers from 20 to 12. Of course, he hammered home the ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ theme – 100,000 to be created by the end of 2013. All that will go down well with the ISMEs.

But his the delivery of the speech is worth a mention. Such things are important – especially for Enda Kenny, who has always appeared wooden on television and in formal addresses. Tonight he performed to his best, which still wouldn’t touch Gilmore and Cowen on their good days but, hey, FG weren’t expecting miracles. For him, this is as good as it gets. Kenny has positioned himself well to look like an alternative leader amid the turbulence of the week ahead.

One final point: the Fine Gael membership were really up for it this weekend. This evening leader’s speech and warm-up acts received a rake of spontaneous rounds of applause and standing ovations – something I didn’t see at any other conference  this season. The TDs sitting behind Kenny were faster than ever in reaching his lapels at the finish. (Election hopeful Pascal Donohue literally ran to his side.) In contrast, Labour seemed serious and subdued last week. As Michael Ring said in his prelude speech that nearly brought the house down: they can “smell power”.