No doubts as to Obama’s Irish Ancestry now
By Samson Reiny Playing with one of the more enduring controversies of his administration, President Obama joked on Tuesday that he had the perfect place for a gift confirming his Irish heritage: right next to his much ballyhooed birth certificate.
Visiting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny gave Obama the “formal certificate” at an evening reception in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which earlier saw Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley singing upbeat Gaelic-inspired tunes alongside a band.
“This will have a special place of honor alongside my birth certificate,” Obama said to raucous applause and laughter.
A lot of brouhaha was made over Obama’s ancestral ties to the island nation.
The president recounted his third great grandfather Falmouth Kearney’s immigration from the town of Moneygall — which Obama visited as part of his official trip to Ireland last May– to New York City in 1850. He went on to praise Irish influence in American culture and history.
“The green strands they have woven into America’s heart, from their tiniest villages to our greatest cities, is something truly unique on the world stage,” Obama said.
On hand to help the president celebrate the occasion was his eighth cousin Henry Healy, whom the president met on his visit last year. Healy had also accompanied the president Saturday to the The Dubliner, a Washington pub , where they shared a pint of Guinness.
Washington Extra – Changing palette
Not so very long ago a no-fly zone over Libya seemed like an option on the outskirts of what the United States was considering in trying to pressure Muammar Gaddafi.
Since last night, apparently a no-fly zone might not be enough, and the United States is now pressing for air strikes against Libyan tanks and heavy artillery. What changed?
“It is not our feeling … that a no-fly zone is a snap-your-fingers, one-size-fits-all solution to a problem. And what we want is action on a variety of items that can improve the situation in Libya,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, without agreeing with the premise that policy had shifted.
The hardening stance brought to mind the words from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last week that “the regime will prevail” eventually because Libyan rebels were outgunned. Words the administration quickly distanced itself from at the time.
Gaddafi had words of his own, warning the rebel stronghold of Benghazi that he would show no mercy. “We will come zenga, zenga. House by house, room by room.”
Changing colors at the White House marked St. Patrick’s Day, with the fountain on the South Lawn flowing green. President Barack Obama promised to visit Ireland in May and see from whence his ancestors came. In the Oval Office it was his great (times five) grandfather, while at the Capitol it was his great (times three) grandfather — Oh well, tough to keep track…
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Obama celebrates Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day
President Barack Obama celebrated a small piece of his heritage this St. Patrick’s Day and announced he would visit Ireland, including the village of Moneygall, the homeland of his great-great-great-grandfather.
Or maybe it’s five ‘greats’, as he said in the Oval Office this morning? Either way, he’s confident he’s a little bit Irish.
“Two years into my presidency, some are still bent on peddling rumors about my origins. So today I want to put all those rumors to rest,” he joked at the Friends of Ireland luncheon that he attended at the Capitol with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. ” It is true my great-great-great-grandfather really was from Ireland.”
“I can’t believe I have to keep pointing this out,” Obama said.
House Speaker John Boehner, Irish Ambassador to the United States Michael Collins and others joined the president and prime minister (or taoiseach) for crab salad and roast Angus beef.
Musicians played a medley of two Irish songs, “Mountain Lark” and “Tom Doherty’s Reel.”
Earlier in the day, in a joint appearance with Kenny in the Oval Office, Obama said the United States plans to work closely with Ireland as the nation recovers from its own financial crisis.
O’bama? President digs deep to find Irish roots
In Washington, everybody seems to claim ties to Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, even politicians like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is famously Italian-American. Pelosi, with self-deprecating humor, told the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon on Capitol Hill that her ties are through grandchildren of Irish-American descent.
But many politicians’ ties are much less tenuous. After waves of Irish immigration to the United States, some 36 million Americans report some Irish ancestry. Nine of the past 10 U.S. presidents have been at least partly of Irish descent, according to the Centre for Irish Genealogical and Historical Studies. The only exception? Gerald Ford. NOT the man who would appear the least likely to have Irish forebears, President Barack Obama.
Obama has to look way, way back on his mother’s side of the family to locate his Irish roots, but they are there.
“Today is a day we speak with pride of being Irish-American — whether we actually are or not,” Obama said at the lunch, which he attended with Ireland’s Taoiseach, or prime minister, Brian Cowen. “I am pleased to say that I can actually get away with it, and I’ve got the Taoiseach here to vouch for me. Prime Minister Cowen was born in County Offaly, and I can trace my ancestry on my mother’s side there as well. I believe it was my great-great-great-great-great grandfather,” Obama said, to laughter.
“This is true,” he insisted, to more laughter. “He was a boot maker, if I’m not mistaken.”
Obama’s Irish lineage was discovered when he was running for president in 2008. The former Illinois senator noted wryly that he could have used the information earlier in his career.
It’s good to see that the whole Irish malarky is at last being treated with the levity it deserves.
Speaking Obama with an Irish lilt
So after President Barack Obama tried out an Irish phrase on St. Patrick’s Day, the Prime Minister of Ireland unwittingly ended the evening by speaking a little Obama.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen, in Washington to help celebrate the day when everyone is Irish and a touch of green goes a long way, ended up at the White House for an evening reception.
Obama, whose great-great-great grandfather hailed from Ireland, pointed out that the White House was designed and built by an Irish architect. “Today serves, as well, as a solid reminder of just how deeply intertwined, how deeply woven the ties between our nations are,” the president said to guests in the state dining room.
But it was the Irish leader who ended up surprised by his own speech which started with: “We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States.”
Turns out Cowen was reading Obama’s speech off the teleprompter. “Why don’t these things work for me?” he asked as the crowd laughed. “Who said these things were idiot proof?”
At the end, Obama stepped up to the microphone to add to the levity: “First, I’d like to say thank you to President Obama,” Obama said.
This morning I put the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge. But I’m still good at what I do.
And it sounds like Obama was jesting when he said “First, I’d like to say thank you to President Obama.” in order to lighten an awkward situation. To me that is an intelligent move that shows a good sense of humor and consideration for Cowen.
Any hoo. It pales in idiocy compared to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc 0A&feature=related
O’Bama tests Irish roots on St. Patrick’s Day
President Barack Obama tested out his Irish roots on St. Patrick’s Day, donning a green tie, practicing “yes, you can” in Gaelic and making repeated references to his great-great-great grandfather from County Offaly. “I, personally, take great interest on St. Patrick’s Day because, as some of you know, my mother’s family can be traced back to Ireland,” Obama said after an Oval Office meeting with Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, or taoiseach. “It turns out that … our first Irish ancestor came from the same county that taoiseach once represented. So we may be cousins,” he said to laughter. “We haven’t sorted that through yet.” Obama discovered during last year’s election campaign that his great-great-great grandfather hailed from the Irish village of Moneygall in County Offaly. Speaking to a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon on Capitol Hill hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Obama sounded sorry he’d learned about his Irish roots so late in his political career. “When I was a relatively unknown candidate for office, I didn’t know about this part of (my) heritage, which would have been very helpful in Chicago,” he said. “So I thought I was bluffing when I put the apostrophe after the O. I tried to explain that ‘Barack’ was an ancient Celtic name.” The president got a quick education on being Irish. Cowen, presenting Obama with a traditional bowl of shamrocks, introduced him to the phrase “Is feider linn,” which translates “yes, you can,” similar to the president’s campaign slogan. “Let me try that again. Is feider linn?” Obama said. “Is feider linn,” said Cowen. “Is feider linn. All right. I got that,” Obama said. “Yes we can.” For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Obama receives shamrocks from Cowen)
Ah, the population implosion strikes again! Barack Obama, like everyone else, has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and so on. Go back far enough, and he’ll have more direct ancestors than the population of Ireland. Or of Europe. Or of Africa. Or anywhere you want, really. Our local TV news was reporting that he has a direct ancestor from East Anglia, for example. I have little doubt that every TV station in the world was reporting something similar just after the election.
First Draft: Barack O’Bama’s St. Patrick’s Day
The water in the White House fountain is green today and the presidential schedule is loaded up with Irish agenda items. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, when the U.S. chief executive could be forgiven for spelling his name Barack O’Bama.
He’s set to meet with the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Brian Cowen, then attend a Shamrock Ceremony, followed by remarks to the annual St. Patrick’s Day luncheon hosted by the office of the House Speaker on Capitol Hill. The president will also meet with Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. This evening, there’s a White House St. Patrick’s Day reception.
Irish President Mary McAleese claimed Obama as a son of Ireland, “for sure, for sure,” in an interview on NBC’s “Today” program. “Even if he wasn’t, I think that we would have such faith and hope in him,” she said. “He arrived at a time when the world was in a very ugly mood of great despair. He’s really captured the imagination, particularly of young people, and that’s not easy to do.” McAleese said her son campaigned for Obama.
With a Dublin-like “soft” day in Washington — clouds and occasional rain — there are many who may look to evade the economic gloom. Before his Irish agenda starts, he’ll deliver a statement on the budget. All eyes, not just Irish ones, are looking for a way to stem the outrage against the millions of dollars in “retention” bonuses paid with U.S. taxpayers’ dollars to the troubled insurance giant AIG.
There’s one more Irish name in the news today: Megan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who vied with Obama for the presidency. Megan McCain, now a blogger at The Daily Beast, got into a tussle with conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who lampooned the 23-year-old McCain as a “plus-sized” Valley Girl.
“Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican Party, Ingraham resorted to making fun of my age and weight, in the fashion of the mean girls in high school,” Megan McCain wrote. “I responded on Twitter by saying, ‘To all the curvy girls out there, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about your body. I love my curves and you should love yours too.’”
Photo credits: A U.S. soldier celebrates St. Patrick’s Day which in the International Zone in Baghdad March 15, 2009. REUTERS/Saad Shalash Megan McCain, after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, April 26, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Theiler
Is there any country Obama does not have a connection with, aoart from America that is?
