Sorry, but Obama is simply not that bothered about us
The US president will do the shamrock photo but that's about it, writes Ruth Dudley Edwards
In a month when angry demands are being made of Brian Cowen and Gordon Brown, among many others, to apologise for their contribution to our economic meltdown, I'm showing them how to say sorry. President Obama, I apologise for having ridiculed you for declaring March 2009 Irish-American Heritage Month and for alleging that you must have allowed the Clintons to put one over on you when your attention was elsewhere. For I have now learned that you are merely following in the footsteps of your three predecessors: it was in 1991 that Congress authorised George Bush Senior to issue the first annual presidential proclamation urging Americans thus to honour the Irish contribution to the making of the United States.
Before anyone gets over-excited, I have to share the bad news that in 1999 Bill Clinton -- never a man to do things by halves -- also declared March to be Women's History Month. What's more, the Irish are Paddy-come-latelys to celebratory months: in 1976 Gerald Ford gave presidential recognition to African-American History Month; Ronald Reagan in 1988 elevated into a month the Hispanic Heritage Week approved by Lyndon Johnson 20 years earlier; and George Bush in 1990 gave May over to Asian/Pacific Americans and November to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The proclamations say much about how different presidents saw the Irish contribution. Bush Senior spoke of the Irish origins of nine signatories of the Declaration of Independence, of naval and army exploits, of the Irish contribution to arts, education, government, business, science and agriculture, and singled out writers Eugene O'Neill and Edwin O'Connor. Clinton's first proclamation in 1993 added the 18 presidents with Irish blood and the Irish political legacy in New York, Boston and Chicago, tipped his cap to several living leaders like Tip O'Neill and Tom Foley and threw in Gene and Grace Kelly.
Seven years later, the Kellys had made way for Gregory Peck, but there were PC additions like the suffragist Leonora Barry and the labour organiser Mary Kenney O'Sullivan. Clinton's main focus was on "the Good Friday Accord. America remains committed to the Irish people as they continue working to forge a brighter future in their own land. The road ahead is long, but the promise of peace is still within reach".
In 2008, George W Bush went back to his dad's basics with the nine signatories, the military contribution and the addition of Buffalo Bill, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Gene Kelly was back, but balanced by John Wayne. In 2008, he was much briefer: no individual got a mention, but, he said, "we honour the service of Irish Americans in America's armed forces".
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