A ray of hope

In 1963 when Jack Kennedy (or ‘yer man’) as he came to be called landed in Ireland as part of his re-election campaign a journo helpfully described his job back in America as a cross between the Irish President and Irish prime minister. (Uachtaran na hEireann agus an Taoiseach). The journo could be reasonably accused of outrageous hype: being President of the USA is a walk in the park compared to the pressures of Irish politics. The idea that an Irish leader could spend four years golfing, tweeting and watching Fox News is so far fetched as to be off the scale. In fairness to ‘yer man’ his tweets would have been aimed more at his girlfriends that at his enemies.

Anyway, as the free world breathes a sigh of relief that the nightmare is over there can be no doubt but that it was a close run thing. The last four years have changed the game forever though. No longer can Europe live in the fools paradise that America will always be there to ride to the rescue. That ship has sailed and America it has to be recognised, is now another country among many that has to be studied without assumptions. Merkel warned us many times that Europe’s destiny is in its own hands and all the Yanky doodle dandy sentimentality is bullshit. The greater damage that Trump inflicted on his country is actually as intangible as a virus but no less devastating. Over twenty years ago the great Anglo American historian Tony Judt warned that the then US direction of travel would lead to disaster. Never mind about billionaires and military might, he declared, the reason people looked up to America was because they believed in the myth of America. That there was a place beyond their own reality where people could if they worked hard get a fair deal off the state and live free. This idea of America as the ‘shining city on a hill’ and the ‘last best hope for mankind’ sustained beaten down people everywhere. Judt warned that if ever a day came when America lost sight of this vision through local demagogues playing to the base for example the myth would die and would not easily be restored. Well the last four years and January 6 in particular have dealt savage if not fatal blows to the mythology. Americas enemies have not been slow to exploit the carnage and the price of this political catastrophe will be paid and is being paid not just in America but around the world. The Princes, Dictators and autocrats have had a great run courtesy of the absent US government and their many gains won’t be easily reversed. Sadly this sorry scoreline includes Europe where the future of the European project is far from assured. At least, from an Irish perspective the election of Biden put a halt to the wilder elements of the Brexiteers. Johnson soon pulled in his horns on the Irish border stunt he announced and there is recognition in London that the game has changed. So, all in all, a ray of hope has appeared, but whether it’s a false dawn or a New Jerusalem only time will tell.