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JOE BIDEN LOVES his Irish roots. But while Irish-Americans love him back, they’re also fine with his decision to step aside.
More than fine, in fact. Irish-American Democrats seem newly-energised and buoyed up by the presidential election, with many saying that they believe the Democrats can win in November.
In interviews in Chicago this week, where the Democratic National Convention is taking place, multiple people told The Journal that while it had meant a lot to see him in office, he did the right thing by bowing to pressure and not running again.
“The energy is different. The conversations are different. It all feels very buzzy,” said Amy Lawless, who grew up in Galway and has lived in Chicago for many years.
She was speaking at an event for Irish-American Democrats in Chicago which was being held in one of the venues owned and run by her family.
“We do lots of St Patrick’s Day parties here and this actually feels like St Patrick’s Day,” she told The Journal. “It just has that excitement and happiness about it.”
“There’s no sadness for Joe Biden. We love Joe, we appreciate everything he did for America. He did an amazing job. But it was time to pass the torch,” Tim Egan said. “The Irish-Americans that I [know] are behind Kamala Harris 100%.”
People pointed to Biden’s performance in the debate against Donald Trump as being the final moment when it became clear that he should go.
“We were excited about Joe. And then the debate happened and all of us said, ‘Okay, he’s not up to it anymore’,” said Abdon Pallasch, an Irish-American who works in political communications.
“I’m not even going to say that it’s bittersweet. I think we all felt that it was time,” said Fiona McEntee, an immigration lawyer who moved to the US from Ireland. “He is such a patriot. As a woman, as an immigrant, as a now naturalised American citizen, to see this ticket is just incredible. So I think there’s a sense of gratitude to him for this.”
Others saw Harris’s candidacy as the best shot to beat the Republican nominee. “I think the Irish as a whole would be happy to close the door on Donald Trump for good,” said Theresa Flynn. “After being in Ireland this past summer, I heard the resounding message over and over: ‘What the hell are you guys doing over there?’.
There were early questions about Kamala Harris’s candidacy after she was announced as the likely Democratic nominee to replace Biden.
“There may have been some initial Kamala scepticism, some questions about whether she was up to the job,” said Abdon Pallasch.
“Within a day or two after Joe announced his retirement and backed Kamala, I was surprised to find my daughters, who had not been into politics at all, were so excited about Kamala – and I realised ‘oh, we’re going to be fine.’ She’s energising a whole new generation that had been apathetic.”
The new presidential campaign has sought to emphasise the similarities between the candidates. Alex Nason, the Irish-American and Catholic Co-ordinator for the Harris campaign, told the crowd at the Irish-American Democrats event that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz shared the Irish-American values of honesty and hard work.
Among Democrats, the prospect of another Trump presidency raises multiple red flags.
“I’m a daughter of an immigrant, a wife of an immigrant, and a daughter of a union worker and a wife of a union worker, so I believe that workers’ rights are being challenged if Donald Trump comes into office again,” said Theresa Flynn.
Abdon Pallasch saw a ‘selfishness and shortsightedness’ in Trump’s campaign.
“It’s the same dynamic that got Boris Johnson and Victor Orban elected; the scapegoating and xenophobia and fear of outsiders.
“And if you go into the kitchen in this fine Irish-American establishment here, I’ll bet there are Mexican folks there working in the kitchen. That’s who works the kitchens, because Americans don’t want these jobs. And so we should be welcoming all these folks who are willing to take these jobs, and the lawn care [jobs] and everything else that they’re willing to do.”
Older Irish-Americans in particular have gravitated strongly towards Donald Trump in recent years, as he galvanised support among working-class communities with his promises to protect jobs in the US.
“A lot of people that came out here maybe 40, 50 years ago are huge Trump supporters,” said Amy Lawless.
Addressing the crowd at the event via Zoom from Ireland, where he was visiting, her father, former Senator Billy Lawless, who lives in Chicago said he would ‘always remember’ what happened on January 6th 2020, when protesters attacked the Capitol Building in Washington DC in an attempt to stop the handover of power.
“I think our democracy is in danger,” he said, urging people to vote for Kamala Harris.
The Irish-American Democrats are confident that Harris will win in November.
“Yes, I absolutely think she will,” said Fiona McEntee. “But I don’t want to get complacent. There is a a fear that [Democrats] will end up lulled into a false sense of security, and we’ll take our foot off the gas. And that’s not what we need to do. She needs all of us to get behind her. She needs us to help her win.”
“We need to remember how it felt when Trump won the election. There were a lot of people that felt like we should have done more, and I don’t want that to happen again.”
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Run with the hare and hunt with the hound, just ain’t on. People voted Independents because they didn’t want mainstream parties. But first chance they get those Independents, turn Turk and push those same mainstream parties into power. Let government give some of their speaking time to them and not opposition time!!!
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: All elected representatives should firstly make a serious effort to get into government. How many more times will the social Democrats come up with excuses for fear of government. Much easier pick up soft money on the back benches and guarantee reelection. The SD’s are nothing more than a debate society and Labour young kids think opposition is better than government. Watch the Labour vote transfer from FG disappear.
We have very little to give out about American politics what this s”"tshow going on
I think that this is about trying to hobble Auntú rather than a matter of principle .
@Des Hanrahan: no harm
Is Kevin Kerr dead? Or has Brennie just not switched profiles lately?
@Padraig Rice Social Dems: I’d be more concerned about Trump24, Tired Jim, Mrs O’Brien, Paul F Doe, Buster Lawless etc than that tool. That first tool I mentioned is never off the Journal and seems to just try to divide Journal commenters on every thread to rile people. That person is obviously a freak, has nothing to contribute and obviously is a dole recipient!
@DJ D: Stephen is another of his profiles. Don’t feed the crocodile!
Funny how these people want diversity, except when it comes to diversity of opinion. Toibin has every right to do what he has to in order to be allocated speaking rights. Aontu got more votes than PBP, the Green Party and Independent Ireland and only got 15,000 less than Labour and the Social Democrats. This criticism from Sinn Fein and the other left-wing hobgoblins seems like nothing more than a cheap attempt to muffle opinions that they don’t like. I personally think that the rule around speaking rights is pure nonsense and is used by the progressive establishment, whether FG, FF or SF, to make sure that smaller parties are kept small. We really should do away with it and allow all members of the Dáil to have fair speaking time and it wouldn’t have come to this if that was the case.
All the elected reps in SDs and Lab wants speaking time but never made a serious effort to govern. The great Irish debating society the SD’s have run to the hills for fear they would have to do something more than pick up their wages.
Nothing new to see here even after the election
He is right.
Isn’t it just typical of SF taking a pot shot at their Ex member Tóibín. They will do anything and everything just to get media coverage. Maybe they should put their time and effort into repatriating the bodies of the people murdered and buried in shallow graves.
In action? SocDems not once, twice but three times have run away from the responsibility of Government. They are as bad as the Shinners.
Tóibín is correct.
Iff sf want real change maybe they should listen to what the public wants
have your say