Maureen Dowd says Clinton “a warm bath”, Obama a “cold shower”

Says Irish civic reception in Mayo a very proud moment for her

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New York Times writer Maureen Dowd

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Pulitzer Prize winning writer Maureen Dowd was given a civic reception in County Mayo last night and stated it would have been one of the proudest days in the lives of  her Irish-born father and Irish American mother.

She recounted how her father, Michael Dowd from Clare, almost sailed on the Titanic but canceled because of his mother’s tears. He later became a decorated policeman in Washington D.C. and national president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Her mother, Peggy, was a child of Irish emigrants from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, who often told Maureen and her sister Peggy who was also present that they “had the rocks of Clare in their heads” when telling them off.

Dowd is receiving an honorary degree in University College Galway this week and was in her usual witty form.

A political cocktail of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Michael Collins and Eamon  De Valera was served up by Dowd in Castlebar — with a little bit of George Bush Senior thrown in for good measure.

The celebrated New York Times columnist enthralled the audience at Mayo’s Museum of Country Life.
Sharing the stage with IrishCentral founder Niall O’Dowd, who interviewed her, the acclaimed journalist spoke of her Irish heritage and her love for American politics.

Speaking just days before she receives an honorary degree from Galway University, Dowd described former US President Bill Clinton as ‘like a warm bath,' making donors and Democrats feel deeply loved and appreciated.

The Irish Times reports that she likened Barack Obama to a ‘cold shower,' unable to connect on the same level as Clinton.

She described George Bush Senior as one of the last gentlemen and a man she has come to respect greatly since he left office.

She branded current presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and failed candidate Al Gore as ‘so wooden that they are like guys made in a factory’.

Dowd also predicted that Hillary Clinton could still run for the White House next time round.

With Clare and Mayo roots, Dowd spoke of her mother’s love for Michael Collins and her father’s support for De Valera.

She also revealed that she had learned later in life that she had been conceived at an Ancient Order of Hibernians convention after a row between her parents over the attentions of another man.

To laughter, she admitted: “So I was conceived in jealousy and rage ... which explains everything.”

Speaking on the current situation in American politics, Dowd told her audience: “President Obama’s inability to use his skill as a storyteller, so skilfully applied in his memoir, is a key factor in his drop in support.

“He’s a bit like Luke Skywalker with the force — he’s got it but he doesn’t seem to know how to use it.

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