Sorry, Hillary, but you’re not our hero

last updated 8 January 2015

Lindy McDowell

Belfast Telegraph

Hillary Clinton claims to have been instrumental in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. “I know. Don’t laugh,” said Lindy McDowell in the Belfast Telegraph. We’ve all been amazed at her sheer gall. Lord Trimble, who was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party at the time and shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize “for, er, helping bring peace to Northern Ireland,” has managed to be tactful. He says it’s a “wee bit silly” of the former first lady to claim so much credit. “I don’t want to rain on the thing for her,” he said, “but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player.” Other negotiators say that Hillary did, in fact, meet with lots of people here and vocally supported the peace effort, but then, “just about every touring celeb and his or her granny” did the same. As for her grandiose claim that she brought Catholic and Protestant mothers together for the very first time, it is simply untrue. Such women’s events took place all the time, and the one that Hillary attended was a mere photo op, staged to give her something to do. The exaggeration is reminiscent of the comedian Spike Milligan’s tongue-in-cheek account of his war service, which he titled, “Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall.” Spike, though, was laughing at himself. With Hillary, it’s the rest of us who are laughing at her.