As presidential candidates, both Obama and Clinton promised to maintain the envoy position which is currently held by the State Department’s Paula Dobriansky.
The elevation of Clinton to the post of America’s top diplomat of course allows the former first lady considerable scope to engage on a personal level with Irish leaders, all of whom she knows on first name basis.
“There is no one who understands both the nuances and the complications in Northern Ireland better than Hillary Clinton,” John Dearie, who organized the Irish American Presidential Forum that Senator Clinton addressed in New York last April, told the Echo.
“And as secretary of state I think she will ensure that Ireland is a first or second tier foreign policy issue,” said Dearie.
“She bring enormous experience and first hand knowledge to the Irish issue. She not only picked up on her husband’s (President Clinton’s) legacy, but has her own legacy,” said Dearie.
“She’s not the president but she’s not that far away from the presidency. I can see a situation where the Obama White House will turn Ireland over to Hillary,” Dearie said.
Congressman Joe Crowley, who is personally close to the soon to be former junior senator from New York, said that Hillary was “the best choice” for the secretary of state job.
“She will do a remarkable job and her particular interest in Ireland will not be lost among all the responsibilities in her new role,” Crowley said.
Similar sentiment was being expressed in Ireland. Fine Gael’s spokesman on North/South cooperation, Joe McHugh, said that the appointment of Clinton was an inspired move.
“There is probably no U.S. politician that understands Ireland and North/South relations better than Hillary Clinton,” said McHugh.
“She was one of the main driving forces behind the peace process before and after 1998 and, as senator, Hillary has kept firmly up-to-date with Irish affairs. Her appointment as secretary of state is inspired and I hope she, along with President-elect Obama, find time to visit Ireland as soon as possible,” McHugh added.
When she spoke at the Irish American Presidential Forum, Senator Clinton, who was still battling for the Democratic nomination at the time, was clear in her view on the need for a continuation of the post of special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland – but one who reported to the president, not the secretary of state.
She said that there was a need for a White House envoy responsible to the president and tasked with assisting the president and providing diplomatic and economic support to Northern Ireland.
“We have come so far and now we need to deal with the remaining issues on the table,” Clinton said at the forum.
“It’s important to have a special envoy who reports directly to me rather than having to go and down the chain of command at the State Department. And having an envoy will signal my personal commitment, that it’s not something farmed out to the appropriate desk officer in the State Department, but instead someone who reports directly to the president.”
Interestingly, Clinton will now top that chain of command at the State Department and could yet end up with an envoy reporting to her as well as the president.