Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 1107 Editor's Choice: 5
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Stewsburntmonkey, you're painting with a very broad brush
[Read the article: Obama hits back at Clinton ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I intended to keep schtum as one writer was complaining that the posts had diverged wildly from discussing the various attributes of two similar campaign advertisements. It did cross my mind that comparing and contrasting two virtually identical advertisements, with just a change of personnel, could be a very sterile argument but I accepted that person's point.
However, it now pains me greatly to have to tussle with Stewsburntmonkey again but, excruciating though the pain is, I can't be found wanting. That charming chappie (how'd I guess) fails to differentiate between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland where there's been peace since the l920s. I'm not going to inflict a lesson in Irish history on anyone but will encapsulate with a glancing reference to Bill Clinton. There are six counties in Northern Ireland which, to date, is under the British Crown. There are 26 in the Republic and those 26 became independent in l922 after fighting against the British forces. The Republic is an independent and sovereign nation.
I'm not going into the reasons for the conflict in Northern Ireland which go back to the l7th century, roughly to the time that European settlers were staking their claim to what was called British North America. Many people of good-will were trying to bring peace to Northern Ireland, among them American Senator George Mitchell. Britain and the US are allies. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister until last summer, was also responsible for Northern Ireland and did his best to sort it - not before time. Bill Clinton, President of the US became involved and his contribution was appreciated but there were many, many more players in all of this, people whose names are not a household word. Blair, strongly pro-America, was a popular PM in Britain until he blotted his copybook forever by supporting Bush's war and against the wishes of vast swathes of the British people. That decision of his is still rumbling on and last week British judges ruled that "Cabinet confidentiality" could not be sustained in regard to the decision to support the invasion of Iraq. The reason is that there was wide public unease with Blair's decision and now the
previously-confidential papers covering the debates among Ministers about allying Britain with George W. Bush in March 2003 will be released. Has this anything to do with Northern Ireland? Maybe - on the basis of "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" but Tony Blair made an enormous mistake in scratching Bush's back on the basis of the trust and understanding that used to exist between th UK and America. Yes, Clinton was popular here and also in the UK but he also enjoyed the adulation and "freebies". I admit I've a tendency to scepticism and being contrary, although I'm not apologising for it, but I could look at Bill on tv, admire his way with words and his relaxed body-language, and still see that he was a bit of a chancer. Born and raised in this small country, I could tell it in my bones and it would be unIrish of me to make any further comment on politicians "on the make". Just think of Tammany Hall. Before I depart I'll just say that genealogists are claiming that Obama has Irish DNA from way-back-when on his mother's side and that's quite likely one of the reasons I have my doubts about him.
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A man with the patience of a saint, a man with gravitas as well as humour, an American
[Read the article: Brand-aid]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I give you the now-retired Senator from Maine, George Mitchell, who showed endless tolerance and persistence in bringing the warring factions in Northern Ireland together to settle their differences peacably. His father was American and his mother Lebanese which might have given him some empathy with the Middle East. I wonder why a man of his calibre never got further than the US Senate when the likes of George W. Bush was elected to the Presidency not just once but twice. I don't want to be disrespectful to anyone but the fact that Americans chose this man to be the leader of the most powerful (for how long?) country in the world was really astounding. He has no heft at all, no breadth of knowledge so that anyone abreast of current affairs could read that Karl Rove was "Bush's brain". In my opinion, your election campaigns are much too long and I don't understand why, in modern times, primaries have to be held month after month instead of on the same day. The campaign is turned into a carnival but not a life-affirming one and your media seems totally out of control with demogoguery replacing intelligent reporting. The European Union sent monitors to Russia to oversee the election there yesterday. A bit cheeky of the EU, I think, but they've reported that although the ballots were flawed they did represent the will of the people. That's more than can be said about Florida in 2000.