Hillary Makes Promises

Editorial / Periscope - Niall O'Dowd

Hillary Makes Promises

April 16, 2008

By Niall O’Dowd

SENATOR Hillary Clinton arrived late for the Irish American Presidential Forum in Manhattan last Wednesday but the crowd was kept entertained anyway. The event happened in the midtown offices of the Adrian Flannelly Irish radio show and of top Irish American lawyer John Dearie.

Over 100 Irish American leaders from all over the U.S. crammed into the large conference room awaiting Clinton.

It was hot and stuffy and the crowd was restless. Before long someone started singing. Soon, like Irish crowds everywhere, the whole room was having a rollicking good time with “Fields of Athenry” and “I’ll Tell Me Ma.”

Actor Malachy McCourt got up and told a few jokes and stories about a famous mayor of Limerick from long ago. It was that kind of relaxed afternoon.

By the time Clinton arrived the room was in fine form, and they rose as one to welcome the former first lady. She had come to the Irish event direct from Pennsylvania where she leads against Barack Obama in the all-important April 22 primary.

After the Irish event she went on to the Elton John concert at Radio City Music Hall where her campaign raised $2.5 million as 5,000 supporters packed the venue.

The Irish American Presidential Forum, the brainchild of John Dearie, has been in existence since 1984 when Vice President Walter Mondale showed up.

Dearie had got the idea after he had asked Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee where he stood on Irish issues during a visit to New York when Baker was considering a run for the White House. Dearie was an assemblyman in Albany at the time. Baker told him no one had ever asked him about Ireland before.

Dearie got to work to make sure no other candidate could respond in that off-handed way. The result was a huge new focus on Ireland by presidential candidates who now could no longer take the issue for granted.

The forum became truly famous after 1992 when a young Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton, showed up and promised Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams a visa to come to America as well as promising to appoint a special peace envoy to Northern Ireland.

Everyone at the time dismissed those promises as just empty campaign rhetoric. They were nothing of the sort, of course. Without the Clinton involvement there would not have been the 10th anniversary celebrating the Good Friday Agreement last week.

Hillary pointed out her husband’s role in her remarks and also talked about her own remarkable commitment to Ireland. She took six trips to the North in all, remembering in particular the women from both sides she worked with to help bring peace.

The media has had a field day criticizing her role in Northern Ireland, but in comparison to whom? Let’s look at John McCain and Barack Obama’s record on the same issue. It doesn’t take long to figure out who has a record to stand on.

She also promised that if elected president she would appoint a Northern Irish envoy who reported directly to her, a very important development. Currently, the special envoy to Ireland works out of the State Department and rarely sees the president.

She also made clear she would work with the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform to bring about comprehensive reform if she is elected. It was a welcome pledge from a politician who has worked hard on the issue.

Clinton also said she wanted the Irish American community to consider creating Irish American bonds to help the economy in Northern Ireland, similar to what Israeli bonds bought by Jewish Americans do for Israel.

Last week the City of New York announced that it would invest up to $150 million in pension funds in Northern Ireland companies. It seems more and more peace dividends are flowing from America.

Clinton left everyone in the room convinced that if she is elected she will be the greatest pro-Irish president every elected, surpassing even her husband.

Bill got in on the Irish activity also, appearing at an event in his honor hosted by the Emerald Isle Immigration Center at Gallagher’s restaurant in Midtown last Wednesday. He too referred back to the role his wife had played in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.

There is no question she would be a great president for the Irish. The problem of course, is getting elected.

She is behind, but a big win in Pennsylvania could change all that again. The race is not over by a long shot.

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