Post by earl on Apr 9, 2008 16:30:57 GMT
Former first lady Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear at the Irish American Presidential Forum in New York today, where she's likely to again address her claim that she "helped bring peace to Northern Ireland."
Former First Minister David Trimble has dismissed Clinton's assertion as " a wee bit silly", but his Nobel peace prize co-recipient John Hume has said that she "played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland".
Locked in a political dogfight with Barak Obama to determine who'll be the Democratic Party's standard bearer in November's presidential election, Clinton knows that Irish-Americans could be a sizeable constituency in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary on April 22.
In a statement announcing her attendance at today's event, Clinton said she was "excited to participate in this important forum. I have worked on issues important to the Irish-American community for many years and look forward to discussing my plans as President."
Obama also knows the value of the green card as well. In January, seven months after it emerged that his great-great-great grandfather hailed from Moneygall, County Offaly, Obama told a TV interviewer that he was " looking forward to going there and having a pint". However, although invited to attend today's event, Obama's has scheduled campaign appearances in Indiana today, so it's unlikely that he'll attend.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain was also invited, but it was unclear if he'll show up.
Former president Bill Clinton will also be in New York today, having scotched earlier plans to travel to Belfast for events commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. He will be honoured at a Manhattan restaurant by the Brehon Law Society and the Emerald Isle immigration Center for his role in the peace process.
Meanwhile, in a far more low-key vein, First Minister Ian Paisley today has a scheduled private meeting with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Afterwards, he'll head for Washington for a series of meetings on Thursday.
Those he'll meet with include Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, US treasury undersecretary for international affairs David McCormick, Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy and Massachusetts congressman Richard Neal, who chairs the Friends of Ireland grouping on Capital Hill.
