OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Clark blasts Bush on North

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Clark, whose political base is Little Rock, Arkansas, was speaking at a campaign stop in Manhattan held at the downtown offices of law firm O’Dwyer and Bernstien.
The event was designed to reflect support for Clark in the city’s Irish American community.
And it was the first time in this election year that a candidate has spoken about Northern Ireland at an organized gathering.
Asked what he do to get the peace process back on track, and how he would about this task, Clark immediately embraced the legacy of President Bill Clinton.
“Well I’m going to engage with it personally,” he said in response to a question from the Irish Echo.
“That’s the basic requirement for leadership and that’s what it took, that’s what Bill Clinton did. He put the effort into it to help it work and we will engage with it personally,” the former NATO commander said.
“As far as all the puts and takes on it, I’m not going to get into those because when you get into those what I’ve learned about peace processes is that you cannot create a peace with a three thousand mile long screwdriver.
“You’ve got to be there with people you can trust, and you’ve got to be engaged.”
The “screwdriver” reference drew both laughs and strong applause from an invited audience of close to one hundred.
Clark’s comments followed in the wake of a formal statement on Ireland issued by his campaign.
It was the most lengthy on Ireland by any Democrtic candidate to date, though it came after statements in recent months from two other Democratic White House hopefuls, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, posted a statement on his campaign web site in the fall admonishing Bush for being “very rarely” personally involved in the peace process.
Lieberman said that he would not only be personally involved, but personally “invested” in the success of the process.
Last month, Kuchinich, one of the rank outsiders in the Democratic contest, said that as president he would support “the highest level of involvement” in the peace process.
Clark, in his statement, said he was “particularly grateful” for the support that his candidacy had received from Irish Americans across the country.
“I care deeply about peace, partnership, equality, and mutual respect in Northern Ireland and throughout the world. Our vibrant Irish American community shares these goals, and I commend the invaluable contribution it is making here and in Northern Ireland.”
The statement adopted a different tome when it focused on the Bush administration, however.
“I regret the current administration has not lived up to many of the commitments it made to the Irish American community in 2000,” Clark said.
“As President Clinton did so successfully, I will support high-level U.S. government involvement in the Irish Peace Process. I will insist on full participation by my administration, including the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, and on full implementation of the Good Friday agreement,” Clark said.
“As President, I will travel to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to lend my personal support to the peace process. In shaping my administration’s policy, I will consult closely with former President Clinton and former Senator George Mitchell,” he added.
Pointing to what he described as “great progress” made in Northern Ireland in recent years, Clark inferred in his statement that this progress was at times in spite of the North’s own political leaders.
“It is time the politicians listened to their people and to the two governments. All parties to the problem must make every effort to move the process forward, and no party should have a veto on progress.”
Clark said that as president, he would support the recommendations of the Patten Commission on policing.
He would restore the cuts “that the current administration made” to the funding of the International Fund for Ireland, a program which he described as “an important investment for Americans and the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
Clark said that while he was keenly aware of the need for increased security to protect America’s borders, he was also deeply committed to protecting the civil rights and liberties of all Americans, “citizens and immigrants” who
made such an important contribution to the U.S.
“I am aware of the issue of Irish deportees. Our nation must always be on the side of promoting fair treatment, equality, and openness in countries
dealing with historic and complicated conflict,” Clark said in the statement.
“In addition, I believe we need a better immigration policy that recognizes the indispensable role that immigrants like the Irish have played in building and blessing America,” Clark concluded.
Clark’s awareness of Irish American issues and concerns are in part due to the fact that a number of Clinton administration officials have attached themselves to his campaign.
One of them is Nancy Soderberg, a member of the Clinton National Security Council who played a key role in honing President Clinton’s Irish policies.
In addition, Clark’s has a particularly strong personal attachment to Irish American and Ireland. His wife, Gertrude Kingston, is Irish American from Brooklyn.
Clark’s Little Rock-based campaign, meanwhile, was hoping that his pitch to Irish Americans would resonate beyond New York.
Clark gave Monday’s Iowa caucuses a miss. He has focused all his early primary season energy on a strong showing in next week’s New Hampshire primary.
Irish Americans are the largest single ethnic group in the Granite State.
Census returns for 2000 revealed that 13.8 percent of New Hampshire’s almost 1.25 million people claimed Irish ancestry.
This put the Irish ahead of all the other significant ethnic groups in the state including English, French, French Canadian and German.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese