February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The platform, which was officially embraced by the Democrats at their convention in Boston this week, acknowledges the current impasse in the peace process.
But it doesn’t go into any detail as to how the U.S. can help break the current political logjam.
The platform statement on Ireland says that the Democrats are determined to help create a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. It adds that the Democrats will support efforts by the Irish and British governments, and the political parties, to break the current impasse and achieve full implementation of the Good Friday agreement.
The brevity of the statement has caused concern among some Irish-American Democratic supporters, especially when compared with earlier detailed statements by the party presidential ticket members, Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards.
But the platform statement will not be the last written word, according to a spokesman for the Kerry/Edwards campaign.
“The entire platform is much shorter this year and is intended for just setting out core principles,” said spokesman Jin Chon. “What we are doing is following up the convention with a book in which there will be more information on policy.”
He indicated that the book would include a more expansive treatment of Ireland.
The platform statement follows a detailed statement by Senator Kerry made public last February.
Kerry’s statement supplanted an earlier, less detailed, outlining of the Massachusetts senator’s position on Ireland. Kerry’s statement, in turn, was followed by a statement from Sen. Edwards a few days before the New York Democratic primary.
Edwards was still Kerry’s rival in Democratic Party’s presidential candidacy race at the time.