Global Courant 2023-04-14 16:02:15
DUBLIN — DUBLIN (AP) — In Ireland this week, well-wishers lined the streets to catch a glimpse of President Joe Biden. Photos of his smiling face have been plastered on shop windows and an admirer held a sign that read “2024 – Make Joe President Again.”
No wonder Biden keeps joking about sticking around.
At home, Biden’s approval rating is near the lowest point of his presidency. And even some fellow Democrats have suggested that he should not run for re-election. While traveling within the US to discuss his economic and social policies, Biden often gets a few admirers to wave as he drives by, and friendly crowds applauding his speeches. But the reception cannot be compared to the overwhelming worship he receives here in the old sod.
Expect more of the same on Friday, when Biden wraps up his visit to Ireland by spending a day in County Mayo in western Ireland, where his great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt lived until he left for the United States in 1850. for weeks there was a buzz of preparations for Biden’s visit, painting buildings and hanging American flags from storefronts.
It’s a dynamic that most of Biden’s predecessors have also dealt with: The world abroad tends to love American presidents. Not always at home. Not so much.
“With the utmost respect, Mr. President, I must say you can certainly draw a crowd,” said Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Speaker of the Lower Chamber of the Irish Parliament, as he introduced Biden’s joint speech to lawmakers on Thursday. “Maybe after that you can give me some pointers on how we can get a good turnout around here.”
A US president’s overseas travels often provide background and content that are difficult to replicate on home ground. Biden’s trip to Ireland was full of nostalgia and camaraderie – grand, sprawling hills and cozy towns to match such a mood.
Presidential visits are accompanied by the pageantry of Air Force One landings, long motorcades and “the beast,” Biden’s limousine, which other world leaders, such as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, enjoy riding.
“He can feel the love in a way that’s hard to do at home,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “There’s something about an American president being in your country that drives a country’s press and public crazy.”
“With the exception of the pope, the U.S. president is usually the most coveted figure in the world,” Brinkley said.
During Biden’s visit to Warsaw, Poland, in February, thousands of people gathered at the foot of the royal castle to hear the president deliver a speech on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the castle illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag behind him, Biden vowed that “democracies of the world today, tomorrow and forever will watch over freedom” to an enthusiastic audience. As Biden left the stage, he paused once more to take in the scene, and a man in the audience bellowed, “You’re our hero!”
When Biden addressed the Canadian parliament in March, the chamber erupted in applause 34 times. In a country where English and French are spoken, Biden generated thunderous applause by simply opening his speech with “Bonjour, Canada”.
Even in Ireland, however, acclaim was not universal. The small left-wing People Before Profit party vowed to boycott Biden’s speech to parliament over opposition to US foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
People Before Profit legislator Paul Murphy said the president’s trip was “treated like a visit from an interesting Irish-American celebrity, as opposed to a visit from the most powerful person in the world who needs to be asked tough questions about the kind of policy. ” that he pursues.”
But Biden’s critics abroad are generally much less personal with their jokes than what he gets in the US
A protester held up a paper sign reading “Arrest war criminal Biden” on Thursday as the president’s motorcade headed for the Irish president’s home. While traveling through Warsaw, a group chanted for hours in a square across the street from his hotel and asked him to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine. In 2021, when Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland, protesters urged the US president to push for the case of imprisoned Russian leader Alexei Navalny.
In the US, a few protesters routinely line up along the route of the presidential motorcade with flags displaying “Let’s Go Brandon” – a coded insult to something far more vulgar that has been embraced by some on the right. He is also frequently confronted with signs saying “Trump won,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s repeated lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Biden is far from the only US president to find appreciation abroad that seems more elusive at home.
Then-President Bill Clinton found refuge abroad from the investigations that came his way at home. According to the Pew Research Center, President George W. Bush in his last year in office was about as loved at home as Richard Nixon was right before he resigned over a scandal. Bush’s reputation also collapsed around the world as the war in Iraq turned into a quagmire.
But Bush remained more popular in Africa, where he pushed for foreign aid and fought the AIDS epidemic. During a 2008 trip to the continent, he visited five countries and praised his achievements at a time of domestic backlash.
His successor, President Barack Obama, saw his fortunes diverge in his first term. The crushing effects of the Great Recession dragged down his approval ratings in the US, but views were unaffected elsewhere in the world.
The Irish response to Biden has been overwhelmingly positive for Cousin Joe, as many have called him. In the County Louth town of Dundalk, thousands of people waited nearly eight hours to see him. As he made his way through streets full of admirers, some struggled to even touch him.
Biden took selfies. He smiled at children. And he made a whirlwind tour of ancestral sites, stopping at Carlingford Castle, which may very well be the last Irish landmark that Owen Finnegan, his maternal great-great-grandfather, saw before he left for New York in 1849. sea, thousands cheered him from the streets below, mingled with the sound of bagpipes blowing from the green hills.
“I don’t know why my ancestors left here,” Biden said. “It’s beautiful.”
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Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Josh Boak and Zeke Miller in Washington, Jill Lawless in London and David Keyton in Dublin contributed to this report.
