Confession: I don’t know how true it is that Joe Biden is coming to Ireland to “appeal to the Irish American vote”. That is a line oft uttered by cynics and enthusiasts alike, and, like many things, I think it says more about Ireland than it does either of Joe Biden, or Irish American voters.
Were it true, of course, most Irish people would be only too happy to help: The national consensus on the United States and its politics is, and likely ever will be, that the Democrats are the goodies, and the Republicans are the baddies. The idea that by letting the great man give a speech in a Mayo Cathedral, and deliver an address to the Dáil, we might boost him by a per cent or so in Wisconsin next autumn, is very self-flattering. So naturally, it is embraced as something close to gospel – we are being exploited, but happily so.
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