Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Inside Eye......Jason Whelan


Gonna dig me a hole......
Age: 20
Hometown: Ballon, Carlow
Course: English and History (Arts, Joint Honours)
Manifesto promises: move up completion date on new canteen, liase with all clubs and socs, stand against fees, promote unity.

A man doing “The Robot” is not what one might expect to see during the presidential hustings, but Jason Whelan’s campaign has been nothing if not unorthadox. All that was really known (by most) of Jason prior to this campaign was that the guy plays one hell of a game of pool. What we know now is that, for better or for worse, Jason has been by far the most entertaining part of these elections.

First, the positives. As he says himself, he’s operating “on a shoestring”. Other campaigns have had many volunteers, t-shirts, posters. For Jason, it’s just him and his business cards. And for one man, he’s been absolutely everywhere in the last week, having great time for anyone who approaches him. His minimalist approach to his campaign is quite refreshing. Secondly, at last week’s hustings, the man was a fountain of charisma. Comfortable, honest, funny, and self-deprecating, had that been his only action in the campaign, and had it been viewed by all, he would have done quite well.

But unfortunately for Jason’s presidential prospects, that was not the case. A murmur of criticism reached The Observer’s ears last week. It was rumoured (I can’t stress RUMOURED enough) that because of Jason’s religious beliefs (He is a very proud Roman Catholic), he was believed to be anti-gay. In a college with one of, if not the highest proportion of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender students of the Irish universities, an accusation such as this can be devestating come election day. His answer to this during hustings was “The good Lord says ‘Love thy neighbour’ so i will”. Viewed by many as a cop out rather than an explanation, the criticisms continued. In an attempt to squash these accusations, Jason registered on http://www.boards.ie/ and tried to answer. This proved a poor decision as the board members descended on him. More accusations were laid on Jason, from views on abortion, to him being a Marxist (His Facebook says he is a ‘Christian Socialist’), even that he may be a BNP sympathiser (Presumably this comes from his alleged views on homosexuality, as I can’t see how he can hypothetically by far left and far right all at once). He was also baited into larger arguments on his religion, and inexplicably, the Israel/Palestine conflict. Whether any of these accusations are true or not, Jason did terrible, perhaps decisive damage to his prospects on the boards.
Jason’s placement on Wednesday will be determined solely on word of mouth. How far will these accusations spread before polls open? And how fast will his denials spread? Will it be enough? We’re betting it won’t be.

Student Observer Odds: Jason 50/1 to win
-Pangloss

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