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Mac attack

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

In a rapid fire reaction to an Obama statement last week indicating a possible second look at the position by an Obama administration, the McCain campaign issued a statement stating that the Republican candidate was committed to maintaining an envoy to the lately frayed peace process.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers, said: “Barack Obama, once again demonstrating his total lack of experience and profoundly poor judgment on matters of foreign policy, has issued a statement questioning ‘whether a special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland continues to be necessary.'”
The special U.S. envoy, said the McCain statement, was first appointed by President Clinton “and has been critical” to fostering peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
“John McCain is committed to maintaining the special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland and that commitment has been enshrined in the 2008 Republican Platform. That Senator Obama would be willing to toss aside one of the signature diplomatic accomplishments of the Clinton administration and put the progress in Northern Ireland at risk is only further evidence that he is simply not ready to lead,” the McCain statement concluded.
In its statement, one that covered a number of policy areas of interest to Irish Americans, the Obama campaign did not definitively say that the envoy post, currently filled by the State Department’s Paula Dobriansky, would be scrapped.
It said that Obama was “committed to continuing U.S. support for solidifying the peace in Northern Ireland,” and then continued: “Barack Obama understands that U.S. attention and support will be required to solidify the peace. But he also recognizes that the crisis period for Northern Ireland has passed and that the people of Northern Ireland are now in charge of their own destiny.
“He 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 official, serving as point person for Northern Ireland, would be most effective.”
The envoy has been a hot button conversation issue in St. Paul, Jeff Cleary of the Irish American Republicans lobby group told the Echo from the city Tuesday.

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