“It’s like coming home”: Joe Biden savored the first leg of a trip to the lands of his Irish ancestors on Wednesday, without omitting a more political verse about his “faith” in America.
Speaking in a pub in the small town of Dundalk, in the northeast of Ireland, the 46th President of the United States had this cry from the heart: “When you are here, you wonder why you want to leave. “.
Joe Biden was obviously referring to his maternal ancestors who fled famine in the 19th century.
But the 80-year-old Democrat may also have had in mind the contrast between the United States, a deeply divided country where he is hardly popular, and the warm welcome received in the Republic of Ireland.
“It’s wonderful. It’s like coming home,” also launched the American president while visiting a local castle in the rain.
Joe Biden took part in a long walkabout, shaking hands, chatting and taking photos with the many people who came to wait for him, braving the bad weather and cheering the passage of his armored limousine, nicknamed “The Beast” ( The beast).
Ireland has welcomed many presidents since John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963, but none who claim to be as proud of it as Joe Biden, the only Catholic to have conquered the White House since “JFK”.
The welcome received in the Republic of Ireland also offered a clear contrast with the more tense climate found by the Democrat that morning in Belfast.
He made a quick stop there to celebrate the peace agreements signed on April 10, 1998 after three decades of violence between Unionists loyal to London, mainly Protestants, and Republicans, mainly Catholics, supporters of an attachment to the Republic of Ireland.
But the commemoration comes up against a much more difficult political reality. The local institutions created 25 years ago, in which the two long-fighting communities share power, are indeed stalled due to the consequences of Brexit.
“I hope that the assembly and the (local) government will soon be restored”, launched Joe Biden in Belfast where he also briefly met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Then the 80-year-old Democrat flew away for what was closest to his heart: this two-and-a-half-day visit to Ireland, far from the upheavals of international news and the hassle of American political life.
Journalists who want to ask him about recent leaks of confidential US documents or politically hot topics in the United States such as guns and abortion will be at their expense: Joe Biden has not scheduled a conference Press.
His trip will have a more institutional dimension on Thursday, with a speech in front of Parliament in Dublin.
But from Friday, the trip will again take a more personal turn with a visit to another cradle of his family, the locality of Ballina, in the west of the country.
Joe Biden, who had already made the trip in 2016 as vice-president, returns to Ireland not only as president but also as a very likely candidate for re-election.
In Dundalk, it was difficult not to hear in his speech, beyond the unfeigned emotion, accents of the electoral campaign when Joe Biden evoked the “values” transmitted within the “modest” Irish clan in which he grew up in Pennsylvania (east).
He touted “courage”, “hope”, “faith” in the future as traits of both Irish and Americans – 30 million of whom claim Irish roots.
Joe Biden, who could face his predecessor Donald Trump again in 2024, is betting on a message of optimism as the Republican billionaire presents himself as a bulwark against a “decline” of the country.
“We must continue to work for a future of greater dignity as we face the darkness,” concluded the American president.
12/04/2023 22:34:48 – Dundalk (Ireland) (AFP) © 2023 AFP
