Intelligencer

Intelligencer

July 17, 2008

AOH Leadership Contest Looms

THERE is likely to be fireworks at the AOH National Convention in New Orleans next week as there will be an unprecedented challenge to National President Jack Meehan by Pennsylvania AOH man Seamus Boyle.

Normally the AOH president is considered a shoo-in for a second term after serving his first. However, on this occasion Boyle seems likely to mount a successful challenge to Meehan, who faces a very tough battle to retain his leadership.

Boyle is an elected Hibernian officer for more than 30 years and has been on the National Board of the Hibernians for the past 10 years. Currently he is vice president.

He was very active in bringing the replica Famine ship the Jeannie Johnston to America, and started the successful Hibernian charity in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

His slogan is “A Vote for Seamus is a Vote for Progress” which is proudly displayed on the AOH Division 39 website.

Boyle clearly feels Meehan is out of touch with the younger elements. His slogan also includes

the following: “Growth- Communication- Involvement-Inclusion-New Technology-New Ideas,” a clear slap at Meehan’s alleged lack of interest in new communications methods for the AOH.

Meehan Out of Touch Claim

BOYLE supporters have long claimed that Meehan is out of touch, but the 1,000 delegates at the Hibernian convention will give their final verdict on that.

The Boyle camp are very confident of victory, believing thy have the backing of state boards from all over the country, while Meehan, they say, has only his Massachusetts base.

Meehan, however, is a tough campaigner, a colorful character who was deeply involved in the Northern Ireland issue for many years.

In latter years, however, Meehan has been a figure of some controversy. He asked that Irish immigration reform supporters come out in favor of the Iraq war in order to win more widespread support from Hibernians, a very strange tactic indeed.

Boyle has promised to be far more hard working on that issue, which many Hibernians see as the key to the future of their organization.

Meehan, in contrast, has stayed almost entirely focused on the Northern Ireland issue, which is clearly a long way towards being resolved and is no longer a hot button issue in the community.

Kaine a VP Contender

INTERESTING that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has undertaken a trip to Poland, Ireland and Italy this week as more and more speculation about a possible vice presidential spot breaks.

Kaine is a long time supporter of Senator Barack Obama and was the first major official outside Obama’s home state of Illinois to endorse him. Then he helped Obama win a smashing victory in his state, a place where Senator Hillary Clinton once believed she had a shot at winning.

Kaine is also Catholic and could help swing a key red state in Obama’s direction. Virginia is a rapidly changing state, and an Obama victory there would surely clinch the White House.

Ironically, one of his main drawbacks is that he has a Republican lieutenant governor who would take over the state if Kaine got the slot.

At age 50 with lots of experience under his belt, Kaine is certainly in the front rank, and his visit to ethnic lands such as Ireland and Poland will certainly help him with visibility in those communities.

A Return for Power?

SPECULATION inside the Obama presidential camp is that Samantha Power, his former top foreign policy aide, will return if Obama is elected to the White House.

Power, a Dublin native and Harvard professor as well as Pulitzer Prize winning author, lost her job as advisor when she described Hillary Clinton as a monster during a radio interview.

Given the uproar Obama was unable to do anything else but fire the woman he had become personally friendly with and who had first interested him in the issue of Darfur and answers to genocide.

Since then Power has continued her lecturing, and got married on July 4 in Ireland to an incoming Harvard law professor, Cass Sunstein, who is often mentioned as a future Supreme Court judge in an Democratic White House.

Power, however, has stayed in close touch with the campaign and has been advising on an informal basis.

Insiders say Obama is still very well disposed to his former aide and will likely ask her back if he is successful in his White House quest — as long as Clinton is not his running mate however.

If she does return it would be a boon for the Irish government which, like every other major government, would need contacts within a putative Obama administration.

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