Former Labour Cabinet minister Mr Michael D. Higgins said Labour Party TDs and senators displayed a lack of "energy and courage" by failing to support his presidency bid.
He was speaking after Labour's National Executive Council last night supported the parliamentary party's earlier decision not to contest the election. Acknowledging that he would not have beaten the President, Mrs McAleese, in the race for the Áras, he insisted he would have mounted a strong challenge.
Mr Higgins said: "I would have been delighted to give her a run for her money." Chiding colleagues who had expressed doubts about his health over the summer, he said: "I think they suffered from a temporary lack of energy and courage."
Criticising President McAleese for a lack of vision, he said she had failed to speak on serious global issues, such as security, trade, debt and United Nations reform. The campaign themes outlined by the President when she announced she intended to nominate herself could have been "shredded to pieces in no time", he said.
"I thought that it was outrageous that she said other candidates would 'have to talk amongst themselves' if such matters were raised during a campaign.
"She said that she sees herself as an ambassador and an icon for Ireland. Well, the Department of Foreign Affairs appoints ambassadors, and icons are statues.
"You go abroad as a representative of all the Irish people, past, present and those who are still in the imagination," said Mr Higgins, describing Mrs McAleese as a "neo-utilitarian".
"She is describing society from a business perspective. I am not. She is doing a 'clap your hands, we're all rich' show. I want people to be more equal.
"I want to talk about the waste of science and technology in war. She is silent. [The election] would have been a choice between the value of intellectual work and populism." He said he had worked with Mrs McAleese 20 years ago on the McBride Commission, which investigated standards in Irish prisons.
"She is a very bright, intelligent woman, but one who is wasting her energies. I accept that she has done wonderful work on Northern Ireland.
"And I applaud her for it, and I have done so already, but the prospect of another seven years of her in the Park is not a very exciting prospect.
"I could not have competed with this agenda of militant cheerfulness, but I would have been delighted to have given her a run for her money. "
Rejecting charges that Labour was divided, Mr Higgins said the national executive debate reminded him of debates in the 1970s and 1980s when real issues were "really thrashed out".
His objective had been to ensure that the party "seriously considered" the options, and the quality of yesterday's debate had "vindicated" him.
"I was very pleased at the quality of the debate. I disagreed with some of the conclusions of some of the speakers, but people had the option of balancing the tactical options available."
