Irish Americans for Biden Harris

By Trina Vargo and Mary Lou Hartman The election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States marks a turning point for the US and presents an important opportunity for Ireland to re-examine and rejuvenate the deeply valuable and historic relationship it shares with America. The Taoiseach's recent call for a review of US-Ireland relations couldn't come at a better time. For the review to be truly effective, it is essential to begin with a realistic understanding of what Irish America is, and is not, and to pose this important question: what do we want the US-Ireland relationship to be in the 21st century? It is necessary to understand that there is no such thing as a monolithic "Irish-American vote". Irish-Americans are Democrats and Republicans, Catholics and Protestants, wealthy and working class. They want our economy back on track and they want decent jobs with fair wages so that they can support their families. They want a healthcare system that is ...

WASHINGTON, DC— Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement tonight congratulating President-elect Barack Obama: “Today, Americans spoke loud and clear and demanded change by electing Barack Obama as our next President. They understood his vision of a fairer and more just America and embraced it. They heard his call for a new generation of Americans to participate in government and were inspired. They believed that change is possible and voted to be part of America’s future. “Barack Obama is my friend and tonight, I’m very proud to call him my President. I look forward to working with him and Joe Biden on the many challenges facing our country here at home and around the world.”

Irish-Americans, like all Americans, are struggling in the current economic downturn. As president, Barack Obama will provide urgently needed financial relief for working and middle class Americans. He will: Enact an emergency economic plan to jumpstart the economy; Provide a middle class tax cut of up to $1,000 for 95% of workers and their families; Provide affordable, quality, portable health care to every American, saving a typical family up to $2,500 each year; Make college affordable by providing a tax credit that makes the first $4000 of a college education free for most Americans. Barack Obama will focus on issues that are of special importance to Irish-Americans. Both Senator Obama and his running mate Senator Joe Biden come from Irish stock. Obama’s great, great great grandfather on his mother’s side, Fulmoth Kearney, set sail from County Offaly in 1850, arriving in New York and eventually settling in Ohio. Obama, who has lived and worked on the south side of Chicago, the hear...

Brian O'Dwyer As we move through this last month of presidential campaigning, the time has come for us all to assess the candidates and make a decision, based on what we believe is right for America in general, and Irish America in particular. The campaign, while at times seeming interminable, has nevertheless given us ample opportunity to assess the candidates, their advisors, and their positions. It is certainly no secret that I have been staunch supporter of Senator Hillary Clinton and I continue to believe that she would make a magnificent president. Nor is it a secret that during the course of the campaign I have been critical of Senator Obama's campaign. Nevertheless, the time has come to make our choice between the two candidates that will be on the ballot on November 4th. I am going to vote for Barack Obama. I have been a lifelong supporter of two causes that Irish Americans hold dear: freedom for northeast Ireland, and an end to the historical discrimination embodied i...

Annie Moore and Ellis Island Dear Friends, I appreciate the opportunity to share a few thoughts with everyone gathered here today. It’s an honor to join in celebrating the life of the first immigrant to enter our country through Ellis Island, Annie Moore. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the richness of our nation’s ethnic heritage, and the unique role that Irish-Americans have played in writing the American story. Today, you’re looking back at Annie’s life and at the lives of your ancestors. As you do this, I also encourage you to take a moment to look around you. Because in its own way, this gathering is just as remarkable as Annie’s first steps into the New World. She came with little more than her two brothers and the clothes on her back. She lived the hard tenement life of an immigrant in New York City, but she worked hard, overcame adversity, and raised a family. And now, just a couple generations after her passing, you are PhDs, investment counselors, actors and writers,...

by Mary Fitzgerald Mon, Oct 13, 2008 SUPPORTERS OF Barack Obama gathered in Dublin yesterday to attend the first fundraising event held in Ireland for the Democratic presidential candidate. More than 100 US citizens attended the fundraiser which was hosted by Massachusetts native Moira Shipsey at her Dalkey home yesterday afternoon. Ms Shipsey is a refugee lawyer who is married to senior counsel Bill Shipsey. Among the guests was novelist and filmmaker Rebecca Miller, who lives in Co Wicklow with her husband, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, and their two sons. Ms Miller said she had made her fourth donation to the Obama campaign yesterday but declined to say how much she had contributed. With three weeks to go until election day, Ms Miller said she was feeling "hopeful but very nervous at the same time". The US had been "hijacked" in the eight years since George W Bush was first elected, Ms Miller argued. "We need to get our country back and reclaim patriotism for ours...

by Michael P. Quinlin (Pittsburgh) –Sister Patricia McCann taught Catholic Church history at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and is today an archivist at Carlow University, a Catholic women’s school in Pittsburgh. She belongs to the Sisters of Mercy order and has worked her whole life on issues of social justice. She is actively campaigning for the Obama/Biden ticket in Pennsylvania. Across town, Jim Lamb, who has been involved in economic development in Northern Ireland for over fifteen years and comes from a well-known Irish-American political family, has organized a coalition of Irish-Americans to campaign for Obama/Biden in western Pennsylvania. McCann and Lamb are part of a robust movement of Irish-Americans and Catholics in western Pennsylvania who are holding rallies, staffing phone banks and organizing voter registration drives over the next month. Their success may well influence whether Barak Obama or John McCain becomes the next president of the United States...

OPINION: John McCain was wrong on the peace process: an Obama presidency is in Ireland's interest, writes Jean Kennedy Smith WHEN IRISH Americans vote in November, the choice is clear: Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the candidates who are best prepared to lead us through the difficult times that lie ahead. For many Irish Americans, Ireland is extremely important. They want a president who is deeply committed - as Bill Clinton was - to peace in Northern Ireland and strong relations with Ireland. But commitment is not enough. Judgment is essential too. Unfortunately, John McCain's judgment has often been wrong on Northern Ireland. Beginning in 1993, I served as Bill Clinton's ambassador to Ireland. After decades of violence, a peace process was being born. The Clinton administration was considering whether to issue a visa for Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, to come to the United States. By the end of December 1993, there ...

September 23 2008 Dear Senator McCain, Thank you for meeting with us on Monday September 22 in Scranton Pennsylvania to discuss our issues concerning the Irish American community. You did address the seven issues which we had given to you on a previous occasion and we were generally satisfied with your answers and your ideas to implement action on our behalf should you be elected in November. It was a great meeting but when you began your speech with a joke about the Irish, I and many of our fellow Irish Americans in the Ancient Order of Hibernians, were shocked. It was really an insult to a whole nationality to be stereotyped as drunks. The Irish are a jovial people who enjoy life, work hard, help the needy, support our community and our country yet get depicted as drunkards and partiers. As you stated in your speech yesterday the Irish have a great education and work ethic. Senator, I was not the only one offended and I received numerous complaints from a variety of people througho...

"Senator Obama has long said that, if elected president, he intends to invest the full weight of his office in the vital Irish peace process. "After consultations with the members of his senior panel of advisers on Irish issues and informal soundings with British and Irish officials, Senator Obama has said that if he becomes president, he will appoint a senior envoy to Ireland who will build on the groundbreaking achievements of the Clinton Administration and help bring the historic process to final fruition." Issued by the Obama Campaign on September 18, 2008.

By Congressman Richard E. Neal Recently, Senator Barack Obama asked me join a distinguished group of leaders who will advise him on Irish-American affairs. As the Chairman of the Friends of Ireland in the U.S. House of Representatives, it was a great personal honor to be chosen to serve on this senior advisory panel. I know both Senator Obama and Senator Joe Biden share my longstanding desire to strengthen Irish-American political, economic and cultural ties. And I am certain that an Obama administration will make the pursuit of permanent peace and stability in Northern Ireland a top priority, will enact comprehensive immigration reform that keeps America ’s doors open and will improve the quality of life of Irish-Americans; and will restore America ’s standing in the world. Like many of us, Barack Obama and Joe Biden come from Irish stock. Senator Obama’s great, great, great grandfather on his mother’s side set sail from County Offaly in 1850, arriving in New York and eventually settl...

By Michael P. Quinlin Irish advocates across the United States should be reassured by presidential candidate Barak Obama’s statement on Ireland, Northern Ireland and Irish-America, which he released the week of the Democratic National Convention. It was the fourth of five Irish statements Obama’s campaign has issued in the past year, and it addressed immigration reform, investment in the island of Ireland and keeping the peace in Northern Ireland. It also included a welcomed shout-out to Irish-Americans, focusing on the domestic policies Obama hopes will help blue-collar ethnic communities across America. You can read the entire statement here. What drew some attention is Obama’s passage on the US Special Envoy position to Northern Ireland, which reads: Barak Obama will consult with the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister, and party leaders in Northern Ireland to determine whether a special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland continues to be necessary or whether a senior administration o...

"Senator Obama has surrounded himself with a group of advisors who have a long history of working to advance the Northern Ireland peace process and strengthening the U.S.-Irish relationship. I am proud to have been asked to serve on the panel, and I look forward to further engaging Barack on the issues that matter most to the Irish community, such as keeping in place the special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland."

"Barack Obama will be an outstanding President for America and Irish America. He is firmly committed to strengthening not only the peace in Northern Ireland but also the deep ties that bind the American and Irish people. I am delighted to be a part of this Advisory Committee."

“I am honored that Senator Barack Obama would ask me to serve on such a distinguished committee. As Chairman of the Friends of Ireland in the House of Representatives, I have had the pleasure of working closely with virtually every member of the advisory panel for more than 30 years on U.S.-Ireland relations. Each one of us has developed a longstanding relationship with the Irish government and the political leaders in Northern Ireland. I know we all share a deep commitment to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary relationship that exists between the people of the United States and those on the island of Ireland. I look forward to working closely with Senator Obama, Senator Biden and my colleagues on the advisory panel on this critically important issue during the presidential campaign. And I am certain it will be a foreign policy priority in President Obama’s administration.”

(September 1, 2008) Senator Barack Obama today created a high level advisory panel on Irish issues, comprised of seven great American leaders who have built close ties with America’s historic partner and friend: Senator George Mitchell, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Pat Leahy, Governor Martin O’Malley, Rep. Joe Crowley and Rep. Richard Neal. The advisory panel will complement outreach work already being led in this important community by Carol Wheeler, and the creation of the panel comes a week after Irish American Senator Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for Vice President. Ireland has been a trusted friend and cherished partner of the United States for many generations. When the Irish have landed on American shores, they have enriched the American spirit and helped fuel the U.S. economy. In recent years, Ireland has built an outstanding education system and transformed itself into an economically vibrant country that has inspired other nations. Northern Ir...

By Michael P. Quinlin (Boston) – It doesn’t matter to me if Barak Obama can trace his Irish ancestry back to County Offaly. Or whether he marched in a recent St. Patrick’s Day parade, or whether he wears a shamrock on his lapel. And it shouldn’t matter to the Irish community in America either. These are just incidentals that media pundits are grasping at to gauge Obama’s relationship with the Irish-American community. To get a true measure of Obama’s stance on Irish issues, you need only refer to statements issued by his campaign over the past year. In those statements Obama has expressed support for issues important to Irish-American activists: Ensuring that Northern Ireland continues to progress under the principles of the Belfast Agreement; Continuing to develop trade and economic opportunities between the United States and Ireland and Northern Ireland as a way of strengthening cross-Atlantic partnerships; and Calling for comprehensive immigration reform to correct the failures of A...

“ The determined optimism of the Irish people has enabled them to grab hold of hope in the United States, from South Boston to the south side of Chicago. It’s an optimism expressed in three issues so important to Irish Americans today: a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, an American immigration policy that keeps faith with our tradition of offering opportunity to those who seek it, and strong economic and cultural ties between our two nations.” [Barack Obama, February 2007] BARAK OBAMA: ON IRELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND AND IRISH AMERICA Irish Ancestry : Barack Obama was delighted to learn last year that a maternal ancestor, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated to America from Ireland. Falmouth, Barack Obama’s great great great grandfather, left Moneygall, County Offaly, on a ship called Marmion . He arrived in New York on March 20, 1850, and first settled in Wayne, Fayette County, Ohio, joining relatives who had previously settled there. Contribution of Irish Immigrants to America : Barack Obama r...