Outside St Muredach’s Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy in Ballina, the town where his Irish relatives hail from, President Biden drew on his family history to send a message of hope and optimism to the people of Ireland and the rest of the world — a message that could fuel his final presidential campaign should he decide to run.
“Our world today is at a tipping point where the choices we make today will shape our future for decades to come,” Biden said. “And in these moments, more than ever, we need hope and courage.”
Linking his political worldview to his family history, the president told the crowd – and the world – that this was “a moment to put our hearts, minds, hearts and souls back into the march of progress.” Laying the foundation stone by stone for a better future for our children and grandchildren.”
Few politicians in the United States get the kind of raw, unanimous endorsement Mr. Biden received in Ballina, with an address in front of a Disney-like cathedral, rock-star lighting, and an uninhibited roar from an admiring crowd. Thousands of people lined the river on Friday, braving the cold weather and heavy rains, to see Mr. Biden. Musical performances were played on big screens as the President slowly traveled around Ireland from Dublin on Friday night.
Mr. Biden drank it down and delivered a short but forceful speech that faces almost no political scrutiny that might greet him when he returns to Washington. His speech was the emotional conclusion to a three-day tour that has been something of a personal interlude as he attempts to maintain global support for Ukraine’s defense despite low approval ratings and an embarrassing series of leaks of classified Pentagon material.
He also faces ongoing questions about his political future as he delays an official announcement of a re-election bid. While on Irish soil, Mr Biden remained silent about his political plans. Instead, he relied on Ireland – the distant backdrop to all of his most popular folktales – to make his case, highlighting a life story that focused on resilience. His fatherland with its “Welcome Home Joe” signs, Biden issue Pints of Guinness and selfie-ready crowds seemed happy to help.
Introducing Mr Biden in Ballina, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called his country “a story of unimaginable courage in the face of loss. And above all it is a love story. For the country, for the family and for the community.”
He paused, then added, “It’s your story, Mr. President, as much as ours.”
Mr Biden spoke as he stood in front of a cathedral where his great-great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, made the bricks used to build the pillars that support the building’s nave: “I doubt he would ever imagined as a great-great-great-grandfather, a great-great-grandson would return 200 years later as President of the United States of America,” Mr. Biden said on Friday.
Much of the President’s tour of the country woven the threads of his life into the more pressing responsibilities he has assumed as President. On Friday, the final day of his trip, the itinerary included a stop at Knock Shrine, where Mr. Biden was told by a priest there that a monk who had administered last rites to his eldest son, Beau Biden, had died of brain Krebs in 2015, had retired to Knock.
A surprised Mr. Biden asked to meet with Monk Frank O’Grady, who received last-minute security clearance to see the President. A White House official described the tearful meeting as “spontaneous” and not planned by administration officials. Mr Biden later visited a hospice center in Knock where a plaque commemorating his son hangs.
“It was incredible to see him,” Mr. Biden said in Ballina. “It seemed like a sign.”
At other points in his trip, Mr. Biden took on the role of statesman, although his advisors had made it clear that the tour would primarily be about Mr. Biden exploring his roots. He began his journey in Belfast on Wednesday, where he urged Protestants and Catholics to settle their differences and embrace the possibility of economic prosperity in an area that had been “healed by peace” since the Good Friday Agreement ended decades of sectarian violence before one quarter century.
“Your story is our story, but more importantly, your future is America’s future,” Mr Biden said during a brief speech at Ulster University. There were signs in Belfast that not everyone was interested in seeing the American president, including a man waving a flag in support of former President Donald J. Trump, whose recent legal troubles have emerged have taken center stage in the news media. Another woman held a sign that read “FAKE CATHOLIC PRESIDENT.” a likely clue on Mr Biden’s support for abortion rights, despite Ireland recently liberalizing its once-tough anti-abortion laws.
Following his trip to the Republic of Ireland, Mr Biden again mixed the personal and political with remarks before the Irish Parliament on Thursday, where he was greeted like an old friend. During his speech, he made an unusually overt reference to his age, taking a moment to celebrate it as an asset rather than a weakness.
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“I’m at the end of my career, not the beginning,” said 80-year-old Mr. Biden, adding that with his age came “a bit of wisdom.” I come to the job with more experience than any president in American history. It doesn’t make me better or worse, but it gives me a few excuses.”
For a politician who has eschewed the issue of his age lest it serve as fodder for critics – he would be 86 at the end of a second term if he wins – Mr Biden this week attempted to make the argument that his experience could guide a country challenged by its political divisions.
Mr. Biden’s first case before voters in 2020 focused on winning the battle for what he called the “soul” of America, a country hit by a pandemic and relegated to the violent Jan 6. Attack on the United States Capitol.
Throughout his journey, Mr. Biden used Ireland – with its shared democratic ideals, its diverse and complicated political and sectarian history, and its past as a nation whose people had sought a better life abroad – to reiterate exactly what he found in the The core of both countries sees: “Freedom. Equivalence. Would. Family. Courage,” Mr Biden said during a speech to Parliament.
Christopher J. Dodd, the former Connecticut Senator and an Irish Catholic who accompanied the President for much of his visit, said Mr Biden spent much of his time in Ireland enjoying the kind of lively, in-person political gatherings the ones he likes best.
Mr Dodd equated the Ireland trip with Mr Biden’s State of the Union address in March, if he felt comfortable Sparring with Republicans and thereafter spending additional time in the chamber meeting with lawmakers.
“This is an easy place because there are so many shared values,” Mr Dodd said. “It’s not just a personal intimacy, it’s a political intimacy.”
People who have known Mr. Biden for decades say that his Irish heritage — and particularly his Irish Catholic upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania — was central to shaping his worldview, particularly as it related to business. The Irish Catholic Church of Mr. Biden’s generation was more focused on social justice for the poor, immigrants and hungry; the early precursor to Mr. Biden’s oft-repeated pledge to build America’s economy “bottom-up, middle-out.”
Kathleen Sebelius, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President Barack Obama, said the influences were a mixture of Mr Biden’s Catholic faith and his Irish heritage.
“It’s hard to draw a line where feeling Irish and feeling Catholic because they’re so intertwined,” said Ms Sebelius, who is also Irish and a Catholic. “I think that’s also part of his cultural heritage, so we’ve had a lot of conversations about it.”
Mark Shriver, a nephew of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president who also accompanied Mr Biden on his trip, said much of what Mr Biden has said throughout his career – and what he emphasized in Ireland – the reflects Catholic teachings.
“He talked about human decency, he talked about respect,” Mr. Shriver said. “It’s part of him. It’s part of his ID. It’s part of growing up in a big Irish family that takes their faith seriously.”
Mr Shriver, like many of Mr Biden’s allies and advisers on that trip, stressed that the President was energetic on the road and making speeches.
“He has a lot of energy and that fuels him,” said Mr. Shriver. “I think he’ll be even better this campaign than the last. He will be able to interact with people. That’ll cheer him on more than sitting on a Zoom call.”
Mr. Shriver said he doesn’t know if the president will eventually run, but hopes he will.
