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Obama got the love from Irish audiences he couldn't get in America - VIDEO

New book reveals Obama was ‘loose and funny’ while in Ireland

By
JAMES O'SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Friday, January 20, 2012, 3:23 PM
Updated Friday, January 20, 2012, 3:23 PM

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Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (2nd L), his wife Fionnuala (R), US President Barack Obama (2nd R) and his wife Michelle (L) pose for pictures during a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, on May 23, 2011. US
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (2nd L), his wife Fionnuala (R), US President Barack Obama (2nd R) and his wife Michelle (L) pose for pictures during a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, on May 23, 2011. US President Barack Obama landed in Ireland on Monday for a visit celebrating his ancestral roots, kicking off a four-nation European tour. \
Photo by AFP/Getty Images


A new book reveals that Barack Obama considered his trip to Ireland among the best moments of his presidency.

Disappointed with his failing popularity polls, Obama drew on crowds in Ireland “for the affection and approval Americans would not give him,” the book reveals.

New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor reveals in her  book “The Obamas” that the president was greatly encouraged and delighted with the reception he got both in Ireland and England in May 2011 when he was flatlining in the polls back home.

“At the first stop (in Ireland) he gave a delighted answer to the critics who thought he was too exotic or too Kenyan or whatever," Kantor writes.

“Several years before a genealogist had discovered he had roots in a small Irish town, just like many white Americans.

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Michelle Obama felt Irish American political leaders had far too much power

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“My name is Barack Obama of the Moneygall Obamas," he told the overjoyed crowd of 25-thousand in Dublin. “And I’ve come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way."

The book says he was “loose and funny” and that he “downright flirted with the crowd in a way he no longer could or would at home,”

Kantor notes that, “the images from the trip were the last triumphant ones Americans would see of Obama for a long time.”

Advisors said that during this period, which included the killing of Bin Laden, “Obama was walking the way he did when he was happiest, on the balls of his feet, with a little bounce in every step."

Here, catch Barack & Michelle enjoying a pint and a chat in Moneygall. Do you think he'd have the same reception in an Irish American pub?:

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43 Comments

15 - 43 | See all comments

Pittsburghkid | Jan 14, 2012, 03:37 PM EST
You are confusing politness with true feeling. Obama is not liked by Americans, because he is a failure. Unemployment has been high, but he refuses to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Chinese are drilling there. Obama's lost billons in green engery investments. Of course, I will be labled as racist for critizing Obama, which is another reason to not approve of him.
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IrelandNorth | Jan 13, 2012, 07:37 AM EST
Gee, guys! Some incredible right wing reactionary comments being made here. Communism and socialism are perfectly legitimate forms of political ideology, even if imperfectly implemented around the world. George Washington and Paul Revere didn't combine to kick the Red Coats out, only to have their republic misapporpriated by political pirateers like Bush and Cheney. Irish social welfare entitlements are socially conscious, Bogsidebunny! You're knee-jerkery sound like jealousy and resentment to me.
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hjfarmer | Jan 12, 2012, 07:48 PM EST
Mcnamara - I do not condone any sort of voter intimidation. But going to your previous point of bigotry; is it not bigotry or at the very least prejudice when the Obama / Holder justice department announces it will not be their policy to prosecute minorities committing voter intimidation? I am referring to the New Black Panthers standing at a voting station with clubs. Video evidence but no prosecution. This administration loves to stir up race and its supporters call everyone else racists when they disagree with their policies. Shame on them all!
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McNamara31 | Jan 12, 2012, 08:47 AM EST
Hjfarmer…Notice I didn't place Huntsman in with the other lot. He seems to be prepared, multi experienced, and has an idea of what it will take to succeed in a global economy however he doesn't pander to the extreme fringe in his party so has not received any recognition prior to the NH primaries. And as for voter intimidation/manipulation how about the states like Texas that will accept a gun license as valid ID, and will not accept student ID. More than one million students attend colleges, universities and technical schools in Texas. But because of the state's new voter ID law none will be allowed to use their student ID cards to cast a ballot. When Texas state legislators moved to cut student IDs from the list of acceptable voter identifications in May, they actually made voting easier for some residents: Now gun owners in Texas are allowed to use their concealed –carry permits as valid proof of the right to vote. Ask yourself why? Who gets the votes and whose votes are suppressed?
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joycean | Jan 12, 2012, 08:16 AM EST
When the Irish came to this country, they invented block voting: everyone votes for the same candidate and outvotes the opposition. Every ethnic group has used the technique, but most to a lesser extent than Blacks which is why Black candidates frequently get close to 100% of Black votes in any election.
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bogsidebunny | Jan 12, 2012, 01:42 AM EST
That's because, by-in-large the Irish are Liberal, Socialists. They can connect perfectly with Obama who wants to turn America into a welfare State just like Ireland. Just Google "Irish Government entitlements" and you'll see a list a mile long. Then think about the 23% sales tax (VAT), 60% of the price of gasoline is TAX and 40 % of a car price is tax. The government run healthcare system is about to collapse. Waiting lists for hip replacements up to 5-years. Wanna see a Dermatologist about a suspicious skin leison? Try 18-months wait. My daughter's in Secondary school (high school) free education? bullsh*t. Uniforms cost 500 to 700 dollar a year. Books cost 300 to 400 dollars a year and "voluntary contributions" ( about 4 times a year amount to hundreds more. Of course the welfare parasites get a free ride, while the working classes get the shaft. The Irish don't seem to get it. That's why they LOVE obummer!
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hjfarmer | Jan 12, 2012, 12:22 AM EST
Mcnamara - hard to believe you are not an Obama lover; you seem to love his positions on issues and took a big swipe at every one of his potential opponents. Regarding bigotry, how do you feel about an administration, with a black leader and black atty general that have as policy to not prosecute blacks who commit voter intimidation?
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seansarto | Jan 11, 2012, 08:37 PM EST
Coming off of the late 80's and into the 90's the Irish gained a great deal of cultural prominence and momentum in the American cultural spectrum. This was highly evident in music and the humanitarianism efforts of Irish personalities. In the US, the Irish had captured the hearts and minds of a generation that was just entering their 20's and soon to become a powerful voting bloc. The momentum that the Irish had attained was compelling JFK Jr to enter into politics and thus renew the glamour that was "Camelot" for so many American generations. Had this occurred, the Irish precedent would have been guaranteed for the generations to come...Well, the black power mongers, especially those in NYC, were very jealous and envious of what the Irish had achieved. They saw the Irish as basically "bad cops", no matter their stripe and as such obstacles to their want of power.
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seansarto | Jan 11, 2012, 08:37 PM EST
So they began targeting the Irish as a means to ascension. ..Whether it was through feigned alliance or kinship...it was their conscientious strategy to get close to an enemy, knowing that they were expendable once their objectives were achieved. So they feigned endorsement of Clinton and showered him with appraisals to gain greater access and control over the democratic party...They did this to overrun it...Establishing Clinton basically as a figurehead, a plantation owner, who reigned over a brief period and contrived prosperity that the blacks knew was based on their superficial endorsement...
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seansarto | Jan 11, 2012, 08:37 PM EST
.Then they went about concocting the Obama personality (I'm Irish and based mostly on the Irish workingman)as they likely successor or inheritor of that Irish momentum to APPEASE the appropriations they were making...and also to super-cede any claims the Irish could make about their own history of oppressions being snubbed...They forced him upon the Clintons, knowing that they now had them by the balls....In my lifetime, there has never been such vicious acrimony between party allegiances as there is now in the USA..And it is the trademark of these black powers mongers to use and provoke such acrimony as psychological warfare...That is their tactics for dividing and conquering...and, yes, this is clearly warfare to them and it is clearly racial at its core. They want to attack anything that is not complimentary to their agenda. Their want of revisionism is on par with that of the Japanese in Korea.
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seansarto | Jan 11, 2012, 08:07 PM EST
Where'd my comment go?
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jowadkins | Jan 11, 2012, 07:04 PM EST
Thats right its all the republicans fault that he is a COMPLETE IDGIT, give me a break. ALL my friends that voted for him before will not do so again, even they (they being Dems) knows an idgit when they see one. I would tell you Ireland you are welcome to him, but I love Ireland too much for that.
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Springfield9 | Jan 11, 2012, 04:40 PM EST
OK ........ show me his "Y" DNA phenotype and I'll tell you what he is. BY the way, this should be how Ireland mannages immigration - IRISH = RL21 (type). The "right to teturn" should be based on this - not "one of my 4 Gradmas was born in Ireland (and the rest in Mozambiue)".
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Caoimhin1937 | Jan 11, 2012, 04:24 PM EST
I was reading Maggie Poo and Wilhoff's comments casting aspersions on people who believe in communism and socialism and who were brought up under those systems. I must say I spent over two and a half years working in Moscow and I have never seen a Russian educated child who could not articulate. Children in russia are very well educated a way more than the children here in America. I know this I have worked in the American college as a professor. We could learn a lot from communist or socialist systems whichever you like to refer to. Before people cast aspersions on other peoples they should go and work in a country instead of spouting the propaganda of the Heritage foundation.
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McNamara31 | Jan 11, 2012, 04:13 PM EST
Obama won the election in the U.S. by over 52%. Many were proud to see the American dream had worked once again. On the other hand, a certain percentage of America will never be ready. They have their perception etched in stone, and no “fact” will get in their way. We all know that when Obama stepped into the White House; America was on the verge of a major depression and had two “unpaid” wars in process. The deregulation that occurred by the previous administration (bought by 5 billion in Wall St Lobby money) allowed the banks to up their debt creating the too big to fail scenario. But what the heck, it’s easier to smear and blame all on the first president that doesn’t look exactly like they want him to. So, DAY ONE they got “on board” with the smear mongers: Rush, Beck and Hannity and did everything they could to destroy this presidency and persuade the American people that Obama is not one of us, and is to be feared. So take your Perry who can’t even recite a simple sentence, your Gingrich’s who went through wives like a hot knife through butter, then got “religion” just in time for the primaries, or Mitt, the Gordon Gecko of finance who would have let the American auto industry fail and said recently “He likes firing people” because “gee whiz” he looks like one of us and has the blonde trophy wife too! BTW I’m not an Obama lover, I’m just a bigotry hater.
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