Intelligencer

Intelligencer

July 3, 2008

Wheeler to Be Obama Link

THE Obama campaign has appointed Carol Wheeler as its liaison to the Irish American community.

The Washington, D.C.-based Wheeler is very well known in the community there. For many years she ran the local efforts of Project Children, the U.S.-based charity that places Northern Ireland kids from both traditions in summer homes.

She has also been very active with the Washington Irish Program, which brings over college students from both sides and creates internships for them on Capitol Hill.

She has been an advocate of Senator Barack Obama from the beginning. As far back as 2006 she talked him up to friends as the man to follow for 2008.

This was despite the fact that she was also close with the Clintons, who often attended her events and invited her to the White House.

Wheeler is regarded very highly in the Irish American community in Washington. “This makes her favorite for the Dublin post,” said one insider, who believes U.S. ambassador under Obama may be a distinct possibility for Wheeler.

Wheeler was on vacation in Africa and not available for comment when the announcement was made. She is expected to begin working on swinging Irish community votes for Obama when she gets back.

There was a general sigh of relief that the Obama campaign had not announced Trina Vargo as the liaison. Vargo has been harshly critical of efforts to legalize the Irish undocumented, a stance that has drawn strong criticism from community leaders.

Support for Wheeler

STELLA O’Leary, head of Irish American Democrats, approves of the decision to appoint Wheeler.

O’Leary, along time supporter of Senator Hillary Clinton, has been among those perplexed by the slowness of the Obama camp to name a liaison to the Irish American community.

“It is a very good choice. I am very happy with it and I expect she will be a great success. I think she’s got lots of committee experience and she will be able to organize the various activist Irish groups so we can talk to the candidate as a unified group,” O’Leary said.

“Carol is very easy and pleasant to work with and I think if we give her our support the campaign will listen to us. She plans a meeting when she returns from Africa with all of us who are interested. We can give her our agenda and what we think Barack Obama can do for the Irish.

“Of course one of those things is we would like to see him go to Ireland and do the Irish American Presidential Forum and also like to see him give an interview with one of the major Irish newspapers like the Irish Times,” O’Leary added.

“We also have other issues like immigration and so on, but I think we need to put all those together, organize them under Carol and present them to the campaign. “

Wheeler’s Husband ‘s Skills

WHEELER’S husband, Tom Wheeler, is a highly successful businessman and also a well-regarded historian who has written a best seller about Abraham Lincoln and how his use of telegrams helped him win the Civil War.

His resume states that he joined investment firm Core Capital in 2005 after nearly three decades of working at the forefront of telecommunications policy and business development.

Wheeler is also currently chairman and president of the Foundation for the National Archives. He is a former trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and has authored two books, Take Command: Leadership Lessons of the Civil War (Doubleday, 2000) and Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (HarperCollins, 2006).

New North Deal Close

SEEMS like Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Fein’s Deputy First Minster Martin McGuinness are on the verge of announcing a deal on policing and the devolution of justice to local rule.

Robinson made a very conciliatory speech in Belfast on Monday, which indicated that both parties are close to a resolution of the policing and justice issue which remains the biggest stumbling block between the two sides.

Robinson stated that it may be impossible for either party to oversee justice and that a third party, either the SDLP or Ulster Unionists or possibly the Alliance Party, would be in charge of the department.

The issue is fundamental to both sides. The DUP cannot countenance Sinn Fein controlling policing, while Sinn Fein are demanding that British oversight of policing and justice matters end.

The friendlier rhetoric between both sides is usually a key sign that a deal has been reached. Certainly, Robinson seemed to indicate as much in his speech on Monday. That can only be good for the future.

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