GIVE ME A BREAK:The elevation of Brian Cowen signals just what we want in difficult times - the return of the head of a traditional family as Taoiseach

WE HAVE A TRADITIONAL nuclear family leading the country again - two parents of opposite sex and two daughters. I wonder have we got our heads around what that means yet - if it means anything, though I suspect it does.

For decades of Fianna Fáil leadership, we have had non-traditional families. Charlie was married with children but his personal life had a duality that the political press ignored in the name of good taste, and which the rest of us accepted because that was, well, Charlie.

And then we had Bertie, a separated father who had never divorced, although his relationship with his "partner" (this is the term we used, it being politically correct compared to "mistress") was well known.

Celia, a woman who advised other women on style, was no Carla Bruni. Nothing to do with her taste. It's just that to be a style icon like Bruni - or Jackie Kennedy - you have to have that ring on your finger. (The meaning of the ring, whether a whirlwind romance or a politically and financially astute partnership, doesn't matter.)

When Celia's attempts to stand by her man failed, Bertie's beautiful daughters, one a mega-successful writer and the other married to a pop star and producing twins in jig time, gradually filled the feminine gap at their father's side.

This went with the zeitgeist of the so-called boom years. We were so secure in ourselves that we didn't need a traditional family fronting our national identity. Our acceptance of Bertie's bachelor lifestyle signified our liberal attitudes to the changing nature of family life.

But now we're in a downturn. Or an "adjustment", depending on how you want to spin it. We want reassurance and security. It's time to nestle down and lick our wounds until the good times roll around again. And while the bad times of the past had us arguing over abortion and divorce, the current recession has us dithering about gay marriage and adoption.

And so, to see us through these difficult times, we now have what we need - the head of a traditional family as Taoiseach.

The press isn't quite sure what to do with it. A "story" that Cowen would be taking up residence in the Phoenix Park was twisted to make it seem as if he was exploiting a perk, when it actually makes sense for the Taoiseach to have a town base for his family, so that he can spend more time with them, even if that's just an extra evening per week.

Maybe the cynics have to be forgiven for seeing the four-bedroom family house as a perk, rather than a necessity, because Fianna Fáil hasn't been family-friendly over the past two decades. Sacrificing one's family for one's career and the economy has been the badge of success for the right-thinking two-career Celtic Tiger family.

You can be sure now, though, that the family will come more into prominence as a reason for us all to accept higher taxation and belt-tightening, what with the mess the government has made of the health service. When we complain, we'll be told to appreciate the small things at our own hearths. It'll be "go family go" from now on, you mark my words.

But perhaps the best evidence that a nuclear family at the top is a security blanket in times of uncertainty, is the predicament of US democrats forced to choose between a candidate who can actually do the job and a candidate with little experience who projects a proper family image.

Hillary, with her iffy marriage and Oxford intellectual daughter, can't cut it compared to Barack with his photogenic wife and children.Michelle Obama, who in typical breeder style hasn't said anything interesting that I can recall, has Jackie Kennedy style and grace, as well as reticence.

And in this time of retrenchment, that's what matters. A woman who'll keep her mouth shut and look pretty. Michelle has actually referred to her husband as "the grown-up" in the relationship, allowing her and her daughters to have a "grounded" life.

This is where we're headed back to, folks. Mary Coughlan - who, interestingly, wasn't photographed with her spouse and children when she took on her new role as Tánaiste - has been anti-gay marriage and gay adoption all the way.

Traditional families are where it's at. If you haven't got one because your family is struggling, with two careers, to pay the mortgage, all you can do is look on in envy and be glad that at least our political heroes have achieved work-life balance.