Joe Biden went to Ireland last week to bask in the glow of the world's most beautiful island, connect with the Irish people and his own Irish roots, and try to re-start the peace process in Ulster. Well, two out of three ain't bad.
The Good Friday Peace Accords are currently in limbo, as the power-sharing government in Ulster hasn't met for a year and Brexit is still a sticking point for Great Britain and for Ireland, still a European Union member. But in his trip to the Emerald Isle, President Biden illustrated how much Ireland still matters to the United States, he vowed an ongoing commitment to peace and security in Ireland, and he reaffirmed how a people united, in pursuit of the best intentions and in the struggle for democracy, can do anything and make anything possible.
And he was referring to the Irish as much as to Americans.
He left Ireland on a personal high. And that was nice. He was exactly the sort of President I had hoped Martin O'Malley - who must have been watching news reports on Biden's visit thinking, "That could have been me!" - would be.
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