Paul Ryan is not feeling the love from Ireland that President Obama is continuing to receive, despite also having Irish roots.
Reuters reports from Vice Presidential hopeful Paul Ryan’s ancestral home, the village of Graiguenamanagh in Kilkenny, Ireland, on the locals’ opinion and perception of Ryan.
"It doesn't matter what his name is, it's Obama that has made the effort," said Pat Nolan, 62, a retired physiotherapist and Graiguenamanagh native.
Nolan continued, “He doesn't have the charisma, he hasn't connected with the people." Nolan was speaking from outside of the 13th century stone church where Paul Ryan's great-great grandparents were married.
While Ryan’s genetic roots may be closer to Ireland than Obama’s are, Obama has succeeded in winning over the Irish admiration. Last year’s visit to Moneygall in Offaly, where Obama was famously photographed having a pint of Guinness with the locals, won the affections of the Irish there as well as many in the US.
Even further, Obama’s promises for immigration reform and the securing of US visas have captured the hearts of the thousands of Irish who are emigrating away from their economically struggling home.
Obama’s appeal to the Irish and Irish Americans is nothing new. Reuters writes how he learned to play the Irish card when he was an Illinois senator scrambling for votes on the streets of Chicago. He also regularly participated in the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade.
So when an amateur genealogist made the definitive yet distant Irish connection for Obama, the focus on it was a no-brainer.
Despite Ryan’s closer genetic ties to Ireland, the locals in his ancestral hometown - just 60 miles away from Obama’s - aren’t throwing their support his way too quickly.
"It would give a boost to a nice small town like this,” said 64-year-old Margaret, who is a cashier in Graiguenamanagh, “but I would forgo it. I wouldn't want to inflict him on the American people.”
Margaret, who withheld her last name as to not anger her employer, felt upset by Ryan's plans to cut welfare and Medicare health cover for the elderly in the US.
A straw poll of 20 people in the town saw 12 people supporting Obama and Biden, and none for Romney and Ryan.
On the larger scale, Ireland isn’t giving its support to the Romney-Ryan ticket. A September poll conducted by Gallup International of 1,000 Irish people saw a staggering 96 percent supporting Obama and Biden for the upcoming election were they able to have a vote in the election.
Martin Brett, former mayor of Kilkenny, said that Ryan is “too far right-wing for this part of the world.” Brett hosted Ryan's uncle when he came to trace his roots in the region a few years ago.
Brett did go on to add with a smile, however, that, "If they [Romney and Ryan] won, the invitations would be in the post.”
Aside from failing to personally appeal to the Irish, Ryan has used Ireland as an example of poor economic policy. On his website, Ireland is mentioned eleven times, with “eight as an example of the economic doom facing the United States if it doesn't address its budget deficit and three as a rival to the Cayman Islands as a tax haven threatening American jobs,” reports Reuters.
While the Irish-American vote may not be as vital as it has been in the past, such as it was for President John F. Kennedy, it still carries some weight. Niall O’Dowd, publisher of The Irish Voice and IrishCentral.com, told Reuters that the Irish-American “vote tends to be a bellwether vote. If it swung decisively behind Obama or Romney , it would certainly mean that person would win the election.”
Thus, the “pockets” of Irish Americans in key swing states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio will have a lot of influence on November 6th.
"The Irish Catholic vote went for (Democrat) Bill Clinton. It went narrowly for (Republican John) McCain over Obama. I'd say on this occasion it will be 50-50," O'Dowd told Reuters..
O’Dowd added that Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan, similar to Obama’s choice of Joe Biden, came as an effort to appeal to white Catholics.
Stella O’Leary, head of the lobby group Irish American Democrats, said that as a Republican, Ryan will probably have more difficulty securing the Irish American support than Joe Biden would.
"I find there is a kind of mild embarrassment on the half of Irish Americans who are Republicans," O’Leary said. "They would all have originally have been Democrats, so the question is when did they change. Was it when they got a few dollars?"
Reuters explained that, “The Republicans' strongest card among Irish Catholics is their social conservatism, something used by Ronald Reagan, the most successful Republican in mobilizing the Irish vote.”
However, social issues haven’t taken the forefront in 2012’s election.
"It's really all about Ohio. Both candidates are looking to gain footing any way that they can," said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell, who said working-class Irish American Catholics were one group being targeted.
Similarly, O’Leary’s group of Irish American Democrats is also focused on Ohio and is targeting Cuyahoga County, described as a bellwether Irish area in a state where the election could be decided.
Rick Barrett, a retired anti-drugs officer, had informed Ryan’s campaign about the connection he made between Paul Ryan and his great-great grandparents’ home of Graiguenamanagh. The campaign staff, however, didn’t feel the information was necessary.
"He's [Ryan] a numbers guy. He's concentrating on the future of the country, but maybe he's concentrating on that too much," Barrett said. "Maybe needs to shake hands, pat a few backs and have a pint or two at an Irish bar."
35 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.eiriamach | Oct 20, 2012, 09:39 PM EDT
It's clear from what Seanmor has written here that he thinks of speaking the Irish language as a way of setting himself apart, racially or tribally, from others, such as the people he calls "the African race." But I'd be surprised if many Irish think of their ancient language in that way! Maybe that's why Seanmor senses that, in Ireland, American Irish speakers are "dismissed as 'misinformed malcontents' or 'sentimental fools.'" The Irish language doesn't cater to the need to feel racially superior that motivates some Americans I've known to learn it and American Irish groups to cater to conservative Catholics to the point that they become homogeneously illiberal.
redhand32 | Oct 20, 2012, 02:08 PM EDT
To elizabeth: I worked as a Caseworker for the PA welfare variously for over 3 decades. I audited the PA welfare Dept for 6 years. I worked for USDA in the Food Stamp Program in Regulatory Compliance, and Quality Control reviewing several States in the MidAtlantic region, and the USVI territory for compliance with the law. In all the time there, I only know of one several instances where welfare and Food Stamps were as you put it, "given away". Under natural disaster provisions like hurricanes, persons affected are given these benefits for set period of time. Also, a person claiming less than $100/mo income and about $150 in assets is considered hungry and is eligible for 1 month's Food Stamps. That is the direct result of a single Federal Court Order several decades ago when it was found that actual starving people on the streets of Philadelphia were denied Food Stamps. I never hear of cell phone giveaways.For all other benefit situations applicants must meet requirements, including work requirements if appropriate or be sanctioned. It does not work perfectly, but mainly because since the recession there are no real jobs !
e_lizabeth | Oct 20, 2012, 01:57 PM EDT
As for the comments about Irish emigration to America, personally I would love to see many, many more Irish coming here -- and much fewer Pakistanis, Saudis, and the like. When a country accepts muslim immigrants it is cultural and political suicide. Of course, lefties, communists, and socialists love muslim immigration for some reason -- even though it destroys the native-born working classes.
e_lizabeth | Oct 20, 2012, 01:54 PM EDT
Well, this is an interesting perspective. In America, myself and all my pro-life (and often Catholic) friends are voting for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan. Sorry you guys don;t like Republicans, but since the Democratic Party embraces abortion and has set itself to destroy the Catholic Church as well as any Christian morality in this country, that's the way it is. Mr. Obama is often linked with names like Marxist, Communist, and Muslim by ordinary people. Is any of that true? Well, it's pretty shocking... As for the welfare rolls here, Mr. Obama has done his very best to give away cell phones, food stamps, welfare, etc. Many of these recipients would be better served by decent employment rather than hand outs...
Seanmor | Oct 20, 2012, 10:26 AM EDT
Ephraim: It is sad but true that a great many of the Famine/Great Hunger immgrants didn't receive a warm welcome when they reached thes shores, but I never experienced any hostility as a LEGAL immigrant in N.Y.C. As for non-English speakers, many of the nation's major businnesses go to great lengths to accommodate those who speak Spanish only and refuse to learn English. Undoubtedly many Yanks are reluctant to accept those who persist on speaking a foreign language, but in the past few years I have been invited to say prayers in Irish at my wife's Methodist church. When I use a few Irish words and phrases in Ireland, I'm often laughed at and ridiculed, even by my own relatives. But Irish hospitality -and generousity - are still very much in evidence in Ireland, especially among the over fifty crowd.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 10:06 PM EDT
BrianO - If your point is that the US GDP per capita actually grew during the Cheney/Bush years, I grant you that point with the caveat that under the previous administration's "horriblly high taxes," the growth RATE was much greater. AS soon as Bush cut taxes the increase began to level off because middle class wages declined more quickly. The increase in GDP was experienced mostly by the wealthy. His tax cuts are a gift that continues giving until January next year. My point was that the effect of their ineptness caused the world economy to crash hurting not only our economy but also Ireland's.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 09:07 PM EDT
BrianO - 1. Note that my figures are Married filing jointly so that is at least two people with taxable income. Yours are per capita and there are many in the US that are included in the population who are too young to be in the work force or are non-working spouses. This means that using the per capita income is a low ball average of actual IRS income reporte. 2. If your intent was to show that many people make way less than the amounts I included, that is my whole point! Those earning way less should not be taxed at the same flat rate as those who are making way more than is necessary to take care of the necessities of life as the GOP so often claims they should. The lower brackets should remain pemanently lower to stimulate the economy and only these higher earners should be taxed at progressively higher rates. 3. This is actually how the progressive tax schedules worked until the 1% started warping it toward a flat regressive tax for their own enrichment.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 08:48 PM EDT
Seanmor - It is a sad truth that many people in the US do not live up to the sentiments on the Statue of Liberty. That cold shoulder that the newly arrived Irish have always experienced here is likewise turned to all the newly arrived where ever they originated. Many Americans believe that it is beneath them to learn another language and that anyone not speaking English must be stupid. I salute the ever gracious people of Ireland and hope that more Americans learn hospitality from their example.
Seanmor | Oct 19, 2012, 07:13 PM EDT
Ephraim: Immigrants of the African race who live in the Irish state legally or illegally are warmly welcomed as the "New Irish" as soon as they set foor on Irish soil. But those of us in the U.S. who identify with the whole rish nation are ruedly dismissed as "misinformed malcontents" or "sentimental fools" if we cling to our heritage, especially the Irish language.
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 03:13 PM EDT
Haa haaa haaa- keynesian economics-QE1,2,3,----2000 $35,082 2001 $35,912 2002 $36,819 2003 $38,224 2004 $40,342 2005 $42,569 2006 $44,695 2007 $46,459 2008 $47,015 2009 $45,7 ////per capita GDP of the US
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:10 PM EDT
BrianO - Actually mine was not technically a leprechaun ANALOGY but rather a leprechaun DISCLAIMER. I always try to keep an open mind and try to avoid giving UNINTENTIONAL offence.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 01:58 PM EDT
BrianO - Econ 101 - If your biggest export market crashs, your exports decrease, you lay off workers, your tax base shrinks, the workers can't buy as much, your domestic products sit on your shelves so no need to restock, no need to make more so you lay off more workers. Down and down we go, round and round we go locked in a race to the bottom. BrianO - Finance 101 - If big American banks sell your banks mortgage products that they say have AAA ratings but are actually high risk sandwichs with AAA's top and bottom but junk in the middle, your banks go under while the too-big-to-fail American banks were hedged against the morgage crash because they knew it was coming. The same things happen all around the world and so now ALL your trading partners' markets are drying up and its down and down we ALL go faster and faster in the dance of doom and gloom. Keynesian Econ 101 - Solution - Get people all over the world buying stuff again by getting money into the hands of those who will go out and spend it right away. Now we ALL need to restock so workers are rehired, tax bases expand, workers can buy more again without outside help and up and up we go. GOP and Germany's anti-solution - austerity, austerity, austerity! Don't touch that, those are MY gazillions. Never you mind that I would make even more if the world economy was humming! Greed, ain't it grand!
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 11:20 AM EDT
angrypaddy........ Black baby is born in Dublin, is he/she Irish? Geography says yes. Blood says no. Blood talk scares liberals, that there might actually differances in the races? Oh, my! Blood talk also scares Anglo-types as they sent the Irish away 150 years ago and most of us here in Amerikay kept our faith, inter-married with other descendants of Ireland. Character is destiny. So is blood. I am an Irish American Catholic whose ancestors came from the west of Ireland during the famine.....most of my friends and family members are the same. Too bad if you don't like it. Paul Ryan the man he is shaped by his faith, his country of upbringin(USA) and his genes (family, genes, blood lines) Too much for you to comprehend? Ryan is an Irish Catholic American...most Americans don't care, but some in fact despise him for this. Sounds like you are one of them.....
BrianO | Oct 19, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT
Ephraim, please as an American of Irish descent, you embarrass me when you pretend to know Irish ways. First off, Ireland is a sovereign country although they trade with the US and Tourism Ireland benefits from American tourism, the US does not pull strings on the Irish economy. Second cut out the leprechaun analogies.
angrypaddy | Oct 19, 2012, 12:44 AM EDT
He is as irish as the last bowel movement you had
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 12:40 AM EDT
I'm JUST an American of Irish descent but I am still angry at what the Cheney/Bush policies of deregulation, credit card wars and tax cuts did to both of our countries. If I lived in Ireland and saw from all the way across an ocean that Ryan/Romney intended to go back to those failed policies that helped cage the Celtic Tiger, I would dis-own Ryan too. If I could see that from way over on my green Island, it would amaze me that ANY Americans would be STUPID enough to vote to return to the disasterous years of 2000 - 20008. The only people who will be happy with a Ryan/Romney win are the gold buyers. (No disrespect to the wee folk!)
pilib04 | Oct 18, 2012, 08:25 PM EDT
No one really thinks that native born Irish would support fratboy Ryan.
MaireadMG | Oct 18, 2012, 07:50 PM EDT
How opinionated the Irish are! You would think that they had the right to vote in U.S. elections. Seriously, who really cares what the Irish think? Don't they have enought problems on their plate with the collapse of the Irish economy, and i might add, i have not heard of their favourite Obama, rushing to help them with their self-inflicted wound.
Chiefjustice | Oct 18, 2012, 05:26 PM EDT
Whats the beef about, Irish Nationals dont VOTE in the US
kilgara | Oct 18, 2012, 04:02 PM EDT
The fact that the native Irish buy into the hooey that Obummer is in any way shape or form "Irish" is a reflection of their incredible naivete and I'm sorry to say , stupidity. Obummer is about as "Irish" as Yasser Arafat.I don't know ANY Irish-American who doesn't laugh at this toally liberal-media created hogwash,pushed by Irish-Central and the like.Obummer, by his own admission identifies totally with his African roots.His administration has been a total catastrophe for any Irish-American who values his or her Catholicism, economic wellbeing,or hopes for the future of this once great country.These issues are what will determine this election , not some sentimental idiocy about whose great, great grandparent came from where.
cillowen | Oct 18, 2012, 03:22 PM EDT
ryan might have had a life becalmed - a record of some distinction until the Munster's Lurch character glommed on to him.
eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 02:48 PM EDT
Americans should be concerned about how seriously other nations, especially our friends, allies, and enemies, take the foreign policies of the US President and the efforts of the Secretary of State's team. At this point also, after the shame of 8 Bush years, we need to cultivate renewed respect for America abroad. And we should always consider the global impact of US economic policy. Romney has elicited only mockery in Europe for his policy statements. Ryan would do even worse. The worst part is that they learn nothing from cultures different from their own.
Seanmor | Oct 18, 2012, 02:40 PM EDT
Could it be that the ordinary residents of the Irish state are so filled with naïveié that they believe all the positive publicity given to Obama and the negativity heaped on Ryan by the media? In the part of Ireland north of the Border, many Unionists are probably more suppotive of Ryan's pro-life, pro-natural marriage stance than of Obama's positions on abortion and same-sex unions.
paulpaulpaul | Oct 18, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT
Not paying too much credence to this poll. It`s an Irish thing. If Ryan is on the successful end of the poll, expect the world media to descend on rural Kilkenny like white on rice, a pub there being renamed "The Wisconsin Arms", and some suitably awestruck public representatives clamouring for the Vice-President to immediately attend the many grand celebrations in his honour. Seriously, though. While the whole Obama/Moneygall phenomenon was a welcome shot in the arm for local tourism, it did lean a little towards the comical. Apart from the annual March observations, it can`t be claimed with gravity that Obama did much heavy lifting vis-a-vis relations with Ireland. The Immigration stalemate remains;boys and girls with jobs and families remain in a state of purgatory because Obama didn`t have the necessary personal skills, charm and political nous to bring the opposing Houses of Congress together;-and not just on Immigration, feel free to substitute your own important topic. One of his big election promises in `08 was that he`d close Guantanamo Bay.It`s an issue that didn`t over-exercise a lot of people, but still yet another broken undertaking. In my heart and soul, I don`t dislike the man, but there is much about him, his practices and convictions that give me serious pause. Oh, and the folksy persona just doesn`t cut it either! A failed Presidency, through and through. His last four years might have been more productive and fulfilling in Harvard, where Professors and their theories can less harm the public good.
lokionline | Oct 18, 2012, 02:07 PM EDT
The Irish in Ireland were never very fond of Republican presidents, vice-presidents or policies. Even Ronald Regan was famously nicknamed "Ronny-raygun" in reference to his Star Wars policy. Ryan elicits that same aversion to Republican conservatism, write-large, due to his extreme Ayn Rand inspired positions on economics and his extreme positions on contraception, which regardless of their attitudes on abortion are not shared by the majority of Irish women I have known.
BrianO | Oct 18, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT
Just the working Irish Americans will be voting for him.
olovely | Oct 18, 2012, 12:36 PM EDT
Ryan even more to the right than Dick Cheney and I bet he's an equally lousy shot.
McNamara31 | Oct 18, 2012, 11:40 AM EDT
joan1954 "Obama has done nothing but to irritate those of us who see our spending power degenerate" Your spending power was effected (crashed) by the last fool in the White house. He's the one who accrued trillions in (financed) war debt and tax cuts. Maybe that's why the GOP didn't invite him to their convention!
joan1954 | Oct 18, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT
Who cares what the Irish in Ireland think, they don't vote in our elections. Obama has done nothing but to irritate those of us who see our spending power degenerate.
Tom Mo | Oct 18, 2012, 10:36 AM EDT
Another non story by Kerry O'Shea. Who in Kilkenny will be voting on November 6th? Irish Catholics in America will go heavily for Paul Ryan on election day.
Eschetic | Oct 18, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT
It's a fair point that Irish observations on our elections are those of "disinterested" outsiders, but it's also instructive to see WHY such objective viewers may not be supporting someone who might be viewed as "one of their own!" We can learn much from our relatives who share a culture and many of the same issues. Back when our unlamented President Bush was ramming through his over-reaction to 9/11 (the litany of right wing wish list items he called "The Patriot Act") British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (with problems of her own) was doing much the same thing with a similarly draconian "anti-terrorist" bill. When a journalist breached protocol to ask the Queen (who generally stays "above politics") what she thought of the bill - and it's attack on commonly understood rights going back to Magna Carta - ALL SHE SAID was "I must admit, it gives me pause", and Maggie WITHDREW THE BILL. It was the greatest example of "choosing your battles" and the proper exercise of real power I've ever seen and we in the U.S. would have been better off had it been better reported over here.
kaydog1 | Oct 18, 2012, 10:14 AM EDT
I have this deal with the Irish - I don't vote in their elections, and they can't vote in mine (thank God). As to Obama/Biden - hey, they had their chance. If Obama has plans now to create "a million new manufacturing jobs", then why hasn't he already done it? Obama had a supermajority in both the House AND the Senate during his first two years, and he was President. He could have passed ALL the DREAM ACTS, IMMIGRATION REFORMS, JOBS PROGRAMS, SOCIAL SECURITY REFORMS, and TAX REFORMS he wanted - no force on this earth could have stopped him. He could have accomplished EVERYTHING he says he wanted to do, yet he didn't do ANY of them. So, why not even an effort? In any case, Obama is VERY consistant, so if he is re-elected, the MOST I could hope for would be 4 similar years of yearly Trillion Dollar (US$) Deficits, routine 8% umemployment, slow 1% growth in Gross Domestic Product, 7% inflation and a steady increase in taxes. That is the BEST I could hope for, but the tax increases scheduled to start in January 2013 may derail even THOSE dismal prospects. So why should I vote for Obama?
CelticQueenUSA | Oct 18, 2012, 09:48 AM EDT
Glad to hear that. He is not good for America.
Frosty38 | Oct 18, 2012, 09:45 AM EDT
Get real.
tom/peggy | Oct 18, 2012, 09:20 AM EDT
Romney/Ryan are not running for office in Ireland. I love the USA and am looking forward to a Romney/Ryan Administration. America is a center right country and Obama's policies are not working! Time to change!