O'Bama and Irish America

Barack Obama needs the huge Irish-American vote in closely-fought Pennsylvania battlegrounds like Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia suburbs. There are similar pockets of Irish American swing voters in other key states. But this Irish dimension is so far being lost or downplayed in the prevailing political discourse about whiteness or Catholicism, and Obama himself has stumbled in his outreach efforts.

Interviews with journalists, political leaders and activists in Belfast this week - including some whose publications are widely read in Pennsylvania - revealed widespread interest in Obama's candidacy but also concerns about his approach to white ethnics like the Irish.

For example, Hillary Clinton was "treated like a queen" by Irish throngs during Pittsburg's St. Patrick's Day parade, according to Larry Kirwan, while Obama went missing. In his fabled Berlin speech in July, Obama declared that the walls between Catholics and Protestants had come down in Northern Ireland, when in fact the barriers separating communities have increased since the Good Friday Agreement. Obama's top adviser on Northern Ireland, Trina Vargo, recently left the campaign after being involved in sharp public disputes with the Irish immigration lobby in Washington.

Vargo, a former adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been replaced in the Obama campaign by Carol Wheeler, whose background includes involvement in children's charities. Wheeler denies this account, saying she is an "addition", not a replacement, and is now the "voluntary coordinator for Irish American outreach" and works with the campaign staffer who does "advocacy outreach.". In any event, Vargo's falling out with Niall O'Dowd, who was a major Hillary Clinton backer and a central force in Irish immigrant politics, has been a divisive setback.

After Vargo openly criticized Irish immigrant advocates for being racist in seeking special treatment, O'Dowd answered in the Irish Times that Vargo "should stick to Hollywood galas and stop insulting Irish illegal migrants to the US who are trying to regularize their positions." [Nov. 20, 2007]. O'Dowd's position, supported by every Irish-American group, is that should seek to regularize their immigrant status, as they have on occasion in the past, while at the same time supporting an alliance of all immigrant groups pursuing comprehensive reform.

On another vital Irish issue, "We need America to be a watchdog against extremist behavior" in Northern Ireland, says Mairtin O'Muilleor, a prominent publisher in both Northern Ireland and the US. O'Muilleor cited the recent episode in Belfast in which Iris Robinson, wife of First Minister Peter Robinson, castigated a Gay Pride parade and proposed therapy as an alternative cure. No one from the US spoke out, O'Muilleor noted, even though the American government is an important party to the Good Friday Agreement. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party [DUP], which Robinson represents, has deep historical ties with the US Republican Party and evangelical Christians.

More important, O'Muilleor stressed, the peace agreement needs to be "cemented with jobs", especially in the heavily-Republican and Loyalist neighborhoods which suffered most during the 30-year war. Investment, however, is skewed heavily towards Protestant-dominated institutions and neighborhoods, even though a Sinn Fein leader, Tom Hartley, is the mayor of Belfast and Sinn Fein is the city's largest party. In a response Obama could endorse, the New York City controller's office has initiated pension fund investments in disadvantaged communities of Belfast, a move that may be copied by other US officials, O'Muilleor said.

These are proposals that Obama could support as a candidate, which would resonate in Irish-American communities, O'Muellior argues.

The point he and others make is that there is an Irish-American vote to be won through concrete steps to recognize the distinct needs of the Irish, a path followed with great success for Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clintons became heroes to the Irish on both sides of the ocean, starting with Clinton's bold support for a visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in 1992, a step that helped unlock the peace process of the later decade.

With the Clintons now supporting Obama, John McCain is vulnerable in Irish-America. This year he excoriated Adams and Sinn Fein at a huge Irish-American fundraising dinner with Adams in the audience. The diatribe was an echoing reminder of the ugly polarizations that preceded the peace process. McCain is out of step with that process. Even George Bush, according to the Irish, seems fully briefed in his diplomatic role in supporting the fragile process.

To ignore this Irish dimension serves to the advantage of the implicit Republican appeal on racial issues like affirmative action and religious issues like abortion. Winning more Irish Democrats and independents to Obama will require an understanding of the progressive dimensions of Irish-American culture, rooted in an immigrant working class experience and nationalist ethos.

Aside from producing some green O'Bama tee shirts earlier this year, the Obama campaign has not yet displayed the rhetoric or resources necessary to win its share of the Irish-American vote. Given the Electoral College, the November election may hinge on this redefinition of race and ethnicity.

TOM HAYDEN recently returned from one week in Belfast and Dublin. He is the author of Irish on the Inside [Verso].

Comments

[squander123]

"TOM HAYDEN recently returned from one week in Belfast and Dublin."

Says it all, really. One whole week, Tom? Being Irish-American may qualify you to speak about Irish-America (although the idea that 40m people can be summed up so easily seems unlikely), but it does not qualify you to speak about Ireland, north or south.

As another poster has already commented below, if Obama were running in Ireland, he'd be elected by a landslide, so if Irish-America isn't so certain, that's just yet another sign of the differences between the two places.

[MBryant]

I realize Mr. Hayden is into this. I'm Irish-American, but I think it is among the least consequential groups in America. Even in Pennsylvania. Done melted in the pot long ago. Maybe if you are running for Mayor of a big city with an Irish part of town (if you can still find such) you would throw a bone or two. Maybe if election day were on March 17th - but on that day everyone's Irish. The only Irish-American issues would be Catholic American issues - and I don't think either Mr. Hayden or I want some of those and the ones we want (land mines - end of captial punishment) we wouldn't claim as "Irish". Besides the Catholics are now politically powerless in America.

I'm glad Mr. Hayden wants to get back to his (/our) roots - but he doesn't need to tie this personal quest to his profession. I don't see that the issues or the political idenitity is there. I don't think Mr. Obama needs to appoint an Irish American point person for the campaign or anything. Even if Mr. Hayden might like the job.

[PhDiva]

O'bama is of Irish descent, and he should emphasize this. However, I don't think it will matter how Irish he is in terms of his heritage. The Irish American community will still see him as Black.

[TommyMcCarthy]

Obama is less tempermentally suited than any Democratic candidate in my lifetime to make the obligatory pilgrimage I call "The Stations of the Cross" or "The Schmoozing of the Groups"......
In which the candidate must serially pander to the sometimes arcane and often stone selfish demands of each and every group in the Democratic coalition that makes up America's ethnic stew.

You remember.....where Tsongas, Gebhardt, or Mondale promise to push for independence for Bhoumfuto, increased US aid to Gnocci-Gnocci, or religious freedom for all Malay pagans.

Unfortunately, Tom Hayden is correct that Obama really NEEDS...(in this case) the Irish vote...in Pa.....and he has a problem with the "white ethnics" generally in Pa. (and Ohio, and Michigan, and Indianna, and.......well,.. you get the picture.).­.....so,..­... ironically, it will be even MORE incumbent upon O to embark on the traditional "pander tour".

Of course, John McCain is less tempermentally suited than any REPUBLICAN in my lifetime to endure THEIR version.....where he, or Bob Dole, or Jack Kemp have to schlep from "Intolerant Homophobes for Tax Justice"....to the "Flat Earth Society Pancacke Breakfast" to "BIGOTRYFEST! '08" washin' feet,...handling snakes and the like,..... till they want to puke!

Here again, McCain's DIS-affinity with these "base" groups will, ironically, make it MORE necessarry to kiss up to them.

I wonder which one it will dawn on first............
Just put Hillary on the ticket and start measuring the Oval Office drapes!
tm

[PatSmythe]

I could not agree more. It is time to end these obligatory pilgrimages, which are far from exhaustive in covering "every ethnic group in America's stew" (when was the last time anyone courted the white Protestant vote?), and maybe Obama will have done so if he wins, showing he has more integrity than Hillary and McCain combined.

Yours.

[apoyo]

How about he just needs the votes of Americans.

[SharonWantsToTalk]

Agreed. As much as he may need the Irish vote, I hope their vote doesn't really hinge on weather he endorses policies that help the their folks in Ireland. After all they are voting for the American president. The country they presently live in. Don't mean to sound callous, but the next president already has more than a plate full of American issues to fry. Let Ireland deal with her own for now.

[presto]

However, the Jewish vote depends on his policies regarding Israel. And the Hispanic vote cares about his policies on Central and South America. And the Armenian vote depends on his view of Turkey. And the Muslim vote cares about his policies in the Mideast. That's what America is. A big mish-mash of diversity. Except for the Irish. They don't count.

[ched]

Sorry, Tom, but your field trip has warped your perspective. The vast majority of "Irish-Americans" have assimilated to the point where their primary concerns are American concerns, not Irish. Those that haven't are a very few that remain in isolated urban pockets, undereducated and out of reach to a black candidate. The Irish of which you speak are in Ireland and, needless to say, do not vote. Read your post again in a month and see if you still agree with it.

[Czoe]

Well, it was the people in the predominately Irish neighborhood of Beverly on the South Side of Chicago that got him started on the way to win the Senate race. Those in the Black neighborhoods on the South Side thought he was too 'educated'.

[Jasel]

You asked everyone in black neighborhoods or did you just pull that little "fact" out of your rear?

[longislandlol]

Obama will do a p.r. 2 day stay at the birthplace of his greatgrandparents before Nov. election-- it's in the bag after that photo-op-- he's got the Catholic vote here--- he has two Irish greatgrandparents and standing next to their old homestead will be all he needs.... ah... the luck of our O'bama.....

[HillaryGoAway]

Referring to Irish Americans as "white ethnics" these days seems silly when the main wave of Irish immigration happened during the mid 1800's (that's when my great-grea­t-grandmot­her came over). Irish Americans are just like anyone else; some will vote for McCain and the more intelligent ones will support Obama.

[marysandra]

I believe that there is an assumption here that all or almost all Irish Americans are Catholic. The logic then follows that all Catholics are pro choice... and therefore must support McCain....This oversimplistic reasoning belongs mostly to talking heads and campaign strategists....When the Irish Catholic vote goes Republican, there will be major earthquakes in the USA from all our grandparents turning in their graves...

[MalleusMaleficarum]

While the Irish-Americans are not irrelevant, the Obama campaign has much bigger problems -- for instance, his slide in the polls. Over the last two months, Obama has lost as much support as Michael Dukakis did by the end of September. Obama's trend is down. Today, he reminds Democrats of McGovern in August, 1972, Dukakis in September, 1988 and Kerry in August, 2004. Obama needs a new strategy, a new message and a repudiating counter-attack against McCain's propaganda of fear that is designed to engender mass paranoia of Barack Hussein Obama as a foreign element in US politics and a non-starter in the presidential election. There is enough time to reverse the trends, but there is no time like the present. The Irish-Americans are a mere epiphenomenon -- an important minor point in the calculus of strategy -- but a mere sideshow to the main event -- a winning message, a winning strategy and a solid defense against scurrilous attacks by the Rovian right.

[genia]

Know how I know that the polls are corrupt? Because each and every day it's the repugs who quote them....metion them.

If......a repug is saying it...it has to be a lie.
word.

[PumaAnn]

I think O just needs to stop talking in circles. Catholic Americans will be happy to vote for him if he makes sense.

It's got nothing to do with ethnicity.

It has everything to do with connecting with real people.

[DaOne]

We Irish Americans aren't stupid Tom. We've voted Dem for a long time and will for a long time to come.

[Whinger]

McCain needs the Irish-American vote, contrary to popular English opinion, your average Irish-American ain't stupid!

[jemma]

I am Irish-American and there is no way in heck that I will ever cast a vote for McCain.

[Buddy McCue]

Same here.