“If he (Obama) wins, the operative word is detachment..”
Gonzo gave his immediate reaction to Barack Obama’s speech late last night but it’s also worth reading Micky Kaus’ suitably sceptical take at Slate
“A little flat, and not just because of it’s now-required State-of-the Union laundry-list passages”
Meanwhile Máirtín points to an Irish Echo report from a couple of days ago on the reaction by some to Obama’s suggestion that a US envoy to Northern Ireland was no longer required – as previously noted by Brian.
“I’m Shocked, I really am,” veteran Democratic activist Brian O’Dwyer said. “The stupidity of it, that somehow the idea that it is all over (in Northern Ireland) and there is no need for an envoy; this of all things. Irish American is most proud of the fact that it obtained an envoy, O’Dwyer, a prominent supporter of Senator Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries, told the Echo. [] “It’s hard for me to fathom how anyone who knows anything about Ireland would say this. This is a signal that the U.S. government will detach. If he (Obama) wins, the operative word is detachment,” O’Dwyer said.
The US involvement here has been mapped out in detail previously and I added some thoughts on the wider view here. And in answer to Máirtín’s question about John McCain’s position on a US envoy to 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.
Of course, previously, McCain has intervened here personally.. And in related news “Senator John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, according to [US] Republican [Party] sources.” Reports here and here. And an Insta-note
Comments (71)
Prince, that should read: “started on, to misquote Renton’s words to sickboy, your” Hangovers are a bitch
The issue is not whether there is an ‘envoy’ to hear SF and the DUP bickering but whether there is a President who has a world view, cares about global issues such as the environment and security and is willing to use US diplomatic clout where it is needed rather then going to war with everyone.
Conall, stop trying to apply common sense to Northern Ireland politics. It doesn’t work.
Preview –Podium speech at Republican Convention –Chairman Professor Bfb presiding
Speaker :
‘Senator John McCain’s choice of a woman for VP makes it clear to all American women that they must now stop wavering in their support of the Democrats and give up those subversive thoughts which they inherited from the feminist movement before they were ‘liberated’ by the Republican Party under George Bush during the past 8 years .
‘Most unfortunately ‘ said Mrs B (Republican delegate from Florida)
‘What was that ?” said the speaker .
‘I mean too many subversive thoughts still survive even among Republican women ‘ said Mrs Brown .
‘You are quite right ‘ said the speaker . The women of America know, especially the single mothers and the elderly and minority women that today the USA is the best country in the world for women, even if they do live shorter lives than other developed countries and even if they have the highest neo natal mortality rate of developed countries and even if there are more American women in prison per head of the population than anywhere else in the developed world . And while it is true that American women are now earning less in real terms. and are now submerged under a mountain of credit card debt , disappearing home equity values , –rising medical care costs, and college tuition fees nevertheless it must be pointed out that by earning less money they will be much better off as our Chariman Professor Bfb has indicated in many of his above explanatory posts .
Furthermore Professor Bfb ‘s thesis that the less one earns the more prosperous one becomes is so obvious that even a child can see the logic . His proposal that women should earn nothing at all and thus become truly rich is a remarkable indication of the sheer stupendous genius of the man from Massachussets . What woman will not vote for Chairman Professor Bfb’s Republican Party given such genius ?
Only Democrats , Independents , Muslims and Non Evangelical Protestants , Jews , Catholics , African Americans and Liberal pinkos are unwilling to see that even if the women of America work themselves to death in two or three jobs in order to make a living, it is for their own good . Even if they starve to death and can’t afford health care or avoid seeking medical treatment then this is also to our Corporate Republcian sorry ahem ‘american’ advantage .
‘Hear Hear ‘ cried Chairman Bfb .
Speaker ‘
‘Once enough men and women have starved or exhausted themselves from working three jobs then America will save on it’s food supplies .
There is only one final point fellow Republicans . How can we tell our socialist and liberal enemies from our friends ?
Professor Bfb (speaking up in strong clear voice )’
‘That’s easy Mr Speaker’ said Professor Bfb
‘Our enemy is a man or woman who is not pleased when his or her job is outsourced to China or Mexico . Our enemy is anybody who is not happy when then his or her wages are cut or somebody who is not delighted when asked to work longer hours for the same wages and who is not pleased to starve to death if it becomes necessary for trickle down economics to be seen to work . Our enemy is somebody who refuses to believe that the most important issues in this election are abortion rights , faith based education , the ten commandments –the coming rapture and the soon to follow Armageddon .
.
Never mind all that Bob! Gustav just moved up to Cat 4
LOL. Jaysus Greenflag for somebody who wants to give Antrim to the Brits you’re quare crack.
Latch
Aye that wan fae trainspottin will come back to haunt us. Top writing though. And I was only joking about the ham shanks hence the wink………………Great people, but their world view now that is another thing aaaaaaaltogether.
Greenflag
Nae wonder Bob loves you.
Bob, may be your Ann Coulter would make mincemeat out of me, but no worries — your heroine is bulimic, she’d spit me right out. That straight talker who calls evolution a “failed religion” and the Christian who advocates that people who disagree with her politically be hit with baseball bats or murdered.
Are those the American values that led your grandfather to leave Mayo for a better life in the USA? Some how I doubt it.
Nowhere in your biography have you mentioned your military service, or that of your children. Maybe that is why you can cackle so gleefully over the obscenity of an American administration that bans photographs of the flag-draped coffins of servicemen and women killed in the line of duty, lest they interfere with all that “shop til you drop” patriotism and sacrifice.
Latchiko (dublin spelling
‘for somebody who wants to give Antrim to the Brits you’re quare crack.’
Antrim ? Shure it’s just only a few basalt rocks a couple of hills and a shower of miserable dour faced bastards
The Brits deserve them don’t you think 
Anyway I’m not giving – The Brits already have Antrim and the poor sods are trying to do the best they can for the shower of ungrateful and miserable reprobates .
They should invite Professor Bfb over to persuade the locals in Antrim that lowering their wages and benefits is in their own interest .
I would fear that Professor Bfb might nae see the shores of sunny Palm Beach ever again
Nonetheless the sight of a flayed alive Massachussetts retiree being found somewhere near the Giants Causeway should drum up interest re NI on CNN and Fox TV for a few minutes . No way to increase the tourist business though 
“shop till you drop”
Jaysus Suzy go easy, you’ll have me defending Bob
Jaysus Greenflag your great-granda must be spinnin’. You Dubs would sell your mothers
And to think Antrim men taught yall about republics Greenflag.
For all Republican /GOP supporters especially Professor Bfb
The Republican version of American Idol or
‘Question Time for Born Agains – And the Saved ‘
Guess Who ?
Which ex mayor who hoped to e President had a mistress in his home while hos wife and children were there ?
Which presidential candidate had an affair , then divorced his wife who had been disfigured in an accident the married the much younger and (very rich ) mistress ?
Which prominent Senator divorded his cancer stricken wife and left her for his mistress ?
Which Senatro solicited sex in the men’s room of a major Airport ?
Which prominent lawmaker admitted to having an affair while investigating Clinton’s ?
Which prominent moral majority leader claimed 9/11 was America’s punishment from God because of America’s ‘evil ‘ ways ?
Which evangelical leader and born againer who constantly blasted Clinton , solicited sex and drugs from a male prostitute ?
Don’t know ? Here’s a hint.
They were and are all ‘Moral’ Republicans
latchiko ,
You Dubs would sell your mothers
But only for a profit
.
‘And to think Antrim men taught yall about republics Greenflag’
Eaten bread is soon forgotten latchiko – even in Dublin
Greenie,
You’re obviously devastated by the epoch VP choice of McCain. Step away from the crack pipe and watch some Three Stooges movies. It’s only going to get worse for you, from now on.
Guys
Just try to keep it civil?
And preferably on topic.
Conall
1. Nobody said NI really would be a factor.
2. As above on the envoy question.
As I mentioned in the original post, McCain has already intervened here effectively.
But the quote in the headline does seem appropriate, at least for now, for any prospective Obama presidency – including on his world-view.
That would have implications for the concerns I noted in my thoughts on the wider view.
bfb,
‘by the epoch VP choice of McCain.’
You probably meant epic . Apocryphal would have been more apt but hey that’s too long a word and sounds like apocalyse
.
Obama has a foot in the USA , Asia and Africa by immediate family background . He may not be the most nuanced in foreign policy detail but that’s why he chose Biden . McCain is an old cold warrior who’s world view is dangerously out of date . Russia is not the Soviet Union .
The fact that he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate is an indication that his ‘judgement ‘ may be on the wane also.
While Joe Biden is on record at favouring the ‘partitioning ‘ of Iraq as between the Kurds , Shiites and Sunnis it would be too much to hope for , that he would draw the same ‘result’ for Northern Ireland .
It would appear that the American intervention in Iraq has opened up old wounds among the various ethnic and religious factions to such an extent that ‘humpty dumpty’ will not be put back together again . Iraq is the former Yugoslavia with oil . And it’s oil is the primary reason why the USA is there .
I cannot see how Republican Party supporters are in a position to talk about how the interests of the economy are best managed. This is a party with a consistent record, starting with Reagan, of deficit spending. How is deficit spending in any way a sensible way to run the economy ? What’s more, the Republicans at the minute do not appear to have a plan concerning how this debt is going to be settled. There’s really only two ways – increase taxes or cut spending. Since McCain has in fact offered to cut taxes, the deficit is likely to increase still faster in the abscence of spending cuts. So what federal government spending is going to get cut ?
I had to laugh at the idea that increasing the minimum wage encourages kids to leave school instead of completing their education. As if kids across the country are right now saying “damn. I’d love to leave school and start earning some cash, but the wages are too low, so I’ll just stay”. In any case, this matter is quite easily addressed by passing legislation that prevents the minimum wage being granted (in full) to anyone under 18, which is the way it’s done in the UK. Nope – opposition to the minimum wage is about people denying people a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
Ok, let’s return to the topic; whichever candidate wins the upcoming election will not alter the US’s current status of detachment.
The President does not handpick the envoy to NI; he delegates this position to the Director of Polcy Planning, and they decide whether to take this post. Hass and Reiss, as former Directors of Policy Planning, chose to taken on the burden of NI envoy, because of the fragile nature of the peace process. However, with the termination of Reiss’s tenureship, who, coincidentally backed Mitt Romney, the subsequent Director of Policy Planning, Stephen Krasner, decided to pass the position of NI envoy down the food chain to Dobrianski.
In other words, the US has already detached itself from the NI peacxe process. If, for example, there was some crisis in with power sharing, such as the collapse of the executive, the status may change.
Don’t expect McCain because of his so-called Ulster Scots heritage to take anymore of an interested perspective in NI.
Greenie,
Thank you so much for the correction. My choice of words sometimes miss one mark or another…
[play the ball - edited moderator]
Comrade Stalin
‘opposition to the minimum wage is about people denying people a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. ‘
It’s actually worse than that . It takes 97 hours of work at the minimum wage rate to afford a basic existence – i.e rent for an apartment, food , clothing and normal household expenditure . I don’t know the exact percentage of Americans living at minimum wage level or slightly above it but it must be in the tens of millions and probably more than 10% ie 30 million people . There would be a very hhigh correlation between these people and the number 45 million without health insurance .
A high proportion of minimum wagers would be illegal immigrants -african americans and poorly educated whites living in economically marginal states.