IRISH American activist Tom Hayden has warned Senator Barack Obama that he needs the Irish American vote, and that there is much concern in the Irish community that he is not reaching out for it."Aside from producing some green O'Bama tee shirts earlier this year, the Obama campaign has not yet displayed the rhetoric or resources necessary to win its share of the Irish American vote. Given the electoral college, the November election may hinge on this redefinition of race and ethnicity. Hayden warned.Writing on the Huffington Post, the leading online political site, Hayden, a former California assemblyman and husband of Jane Fonda who just returned from 10 days in Ireland stated, "Barack Obama needs the huge Irish American vote in closely-fought Pennsylvania battlegrounds like Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia suburbs."There are similar pockets of Irish American swing voters in other key states. But this Irish dimension is so far being lost or downplayed in the prevailing political discourse about whiteness or Catholicism, and Obama himself has stumbled in his outreach efforts."Hayden states that "there is an Irish American vote to be won through concrete steps to recognize the distinct needs of the Irish, a path followed with great success for Bill and Hillary Clinton."The Clintons became heroes to the Irish on both sides of the ocean, starting with Clinton's bold support for a visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in 1992, a step that helped unlock the peace process of the later decade."Hayden notes that Hillary Clinton was "treated like a queen" by Irish throngs during Pittsburgh's St. Patrick's Day parade, while Obama "went missing.""In his fabled Berlin speech in July, Obama declared that the walls between Catholics and Protestants had come down in Northern Ireland, when in fact the barriers separating communities have increased since the Good Friday Agreement."Hayden also claimed Obama's top adviser on Northern Ireland, Trina Vargo, recently left the campaign after being involved in sharp public disputes with the Irish immigration lobby in Washington, but the Irish Voice believes that is not the case and Vargo is still involved."To ignore this Irish dimension serves to the advantage of the implicit Republican appeal on racial issues like affirmative action and religious issues like abortion. Winning more Irish Democrats and independents to Obama will require an understanding of the progressive dimensions of Irish American culture, rooted in an immigrant working class experience and nationalist ethos." Hayden stated.