Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Irish Charm

From the Bog. Ah Begorrah! Oi’ll be swearin’ boi the shamrocks growin’ on the hill where Cuchullain slew the Great Leprechaun of Kildare. I am Barack Seamus O’Toole Flaherty Joyce O’Bama. I am the most Irish U.S. President to ever set foot on the Emerald Oisle.
Obama has traced his ancestral roots to a village in Ireland. One of the Obama’s maternal great-great-great-grandfathers was a shoemaker who immigrated to the United States to escape the troubles.
Obama declared solidarity between the United States and Ireland. Obama told the throng in central Dublin: "My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas" and then he said, "This little country that inspires the biggest things, your best days are still ahead" and “Is feidir linn” which is , "Yes we can," in Gaelic.
In Moneygall, Obama hoisted a glass of Guinness at Ollie Hayes's pub as fiddle music played and Michelle pulled pints at the bar. "I don't want to mess this up," Obama said before saluting the bar with a "Slainte" - Gaelic for 'cheers' - and a tentative gulp.
The sleepy village of 300 was the birthplace of Obama's great-great-great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker who left in 1850 to begin a new life in the United States.
This makes Obama one of 37 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry.

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