Before this week the Taoiseach will have known about the swift and shifting judgements made about serving political leaders.
It can see them viewed, even by their own supporters, as everything from hapless clowns to sagacious saviours over the space of just a few days.
He might have witnessed this from a distance before but Leo Varadkar will never have experienced it with such intensity as he has in the last fortnight.
On this very day two weeks ago, his decision-making ability was in question from many within his party.
This stemmed from his apparent flirtation with the idea of a December General Election arising from the crisis that surrounded the then tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.
His unflinching loyalty to the former justice minister in the face of mounting revelations spooked some Fine Gael colleagues who were desperate to avoid an election.
But today any thought that he is a callow neophyte in the Office of Taoiseach has been banished and replaced with opinions that border on hagiography.
As ever the truth may well be less simple.
Indeed even on the path to today’s success story for the Government, there were again questions about the handling of events last Monday.
Amid criticism that the prospects of a deal that day were excessively hyped up by Government; the Taoiseach pointed out to the Dáil on Wednesday that in fact he had only spoken once publicly on the day in question.
That was at the press conference to express in his words, surprise and disappointment, at the late decision by British Prime Minister Theresa May not to sign-off on the deal outlined on Monday, after its contents incurred the wrath of the DUP.
In the days that followed, and despite an expectation in some quarters that Dublin would seek to reassure the DUP, the Taoiseach said he would reach out to both nationalists and unionists.
The message was clear, the Irish Government believed that it was the British Prime Minister’s job to handle the DUP.
Backed by the bulwark of 26 other EU member states, the Taoiseach raised the stakes on Britain last Wednesday saying the next phase of the Brexit negotiations might have to be delayed until after Christmas if the guarantee of avoiding a hard border was not forthcoming.
Later that day he used softer language. After a telephone call with the British Minister he spoke of looking at any proposed changes to the text with an ‘open mind’ provided they did not alter the substance of the agreement.
In the end that approach was sufficient to get the Government everything it needed in the first round of these talks.
When it comes to the border the Government has essentially nailed down some key co-ordinates on a future that had until this point looked difficult to map accurately.
What’s more, they insist that they are bullet proof and cast-iron guarantees that there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland once the UK leaves the EU.
However, it is only the beginning and the DUP has stated that they will seek more reassurances in the next phase of negotiations.
This agreement and its clear signal of a soft Brexit for the UK is also likely to spark dissent from many in Theresa May’s party.
To use an imprecise sporting analogy it could be viewed as a strong result in the first-leg of a grueling and possibility era-defining joust.
Irish history, political and sporting, is littered with good starts that never materialised into epoch-making victories.
But right now, the Taoiseach’s and the Tánaiste’s political stock could not be higher.
Those around them will savour this moment, the reservations of a fortnight ago looking entirely out of place today.
They will hope though that this is not as good as it gets.
