When the votes are recorded in this week’s primaries one man in San Jose, California will be hoping Irish Americans across the country will continue to join in the Obama wave.

Tom McEnery, who was mayor of San Jose for seven years, is one of the founders of Irish for Obama, an organization that hopes to set up branches all over the United States.

McEnery, whose grandparents come from Co.Kerry, spoke to the Irish Voice on Tuesday and stated that if Senator Barack Obama gets elected as the next Commander in Chief he will benefit Ireland north and south.

McEnery claims that there are millions of Irish Americans supporting Obama and that the Irish for Obama organization can make a major difference in key states.

McEnery said, “A page is being turned in this historical context and Obama so much embodies change. His candidacy is so evocative of the hopes and aspiration of another generation of new Americans. It has an effect across the world.”

McEnery claims that Obama’s roots, including his Irish ancestry, mark him as a new and breakthrough figure in American politics.

“The mix of Kenya, Kansas and Ireland is a recipe for a new era of decency and inspiration for all ethnic groups and citizens for different parts of America that we have longed for but have seldom seen recently in American politics,” he feels.

Saying that there is an important Irish agenda for the next U.S. president, McEnery says Northern Ireland and immigration reform are top of the list with economic development.

He feels the relationship between Silicon Valley in California and Ireland is the key for Ireland’s future, and he says the potential is there for more cooperation in an Obama White House. McEnery founded the San Jose/Dublin sister city scheme 22 years ago.

McEnery, who is acquainted with Obama’s wife Michelle, said although he doesn’t know the senator personally he is a change agent in California and elsewhere. “He just touched a chord in so many people including me,” says McEnery.

The Irish organization is at its early stages, but McEnery says it will continue to make sure that the Irish positions that are laid out are consistent with what a President Obama will work on as an agenda for Ireland.

“We’ll get more active after he secures the nomination, particularly as far as ensuring that ideas for economic partnerships with Ireland will grow,” said McEnery.