NationalJournal.com – As Obama Visits Ireland, JFK's Shadow Looms – Monday, May 23, 2011

While I’m still giddy about the press…

Reagan made only passing reference to what was known in Ireland as “the Troubles.” But Clinton embraced the quest for peace between the two warring communities. When he granted a long-denied visa to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in 1994—in part at the urging of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.—the British were furious. The Irish were delighted.

…Clinton threw himself into the Irish peace process, visiting Ireland twice more and becoming the first president to visit Northern Ireland, going there all three times. He also appointed George Mitchell to oversee the peace talks that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement. And when he left office, Clinton had reached a level of popularity with the Irish people that matched Kennedy’s, in large part because they knew that he had bucked the advice of the entire foreign policy establishment to end the bloodshed on their island.

Think of what you could do in terms of building goodwill towards the US if you could mimic this sort of thing somewhere else. Ah, the possibilities if you turn over a competent leaf…