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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

A great day to be Irish for Barack Obama

Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 08:28 AM

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PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery

President Obama came saw and triumphed in Ireland on Monday. In the process he forged a new identity that connects him even closer to the great American dream.

He has been accused of being a Muslim, of having no birth certificate, of being somehow non American.
On Monday he produced the long form birth certificate of Fulmouth Kearney his predecessor, and in the process. Fulmouth’s story became part of the American story too.

By finding his Irish family, no matter how remote, Obama tapped into a classic American narrative of an American returning back and finding his roots.

Americans know one thing, that their presence in America started , in most cases a generation or more ago when a young man or woman, packed a small suitcase, said farewell to his or her family and headed off into the great unknown.

All the great dynasties, from the Mayflower emigrants on down started with such a voyage into the unknown. So did every sweat blood and tears American small success story.

That diorama is part of the American psyche, embedded deep in the DNA of all of us who share this blessed country.

There has been a concerted effort to deny Obama that heritage, to proclaim him as alien and outside the American dream.

In Moneygall he shattered that smear forever.

His ancestor Fulmouth Kearney, was one such man, who departed his little native village of Moneygall in 1850 and created his own American dream by taking up land in Ohio . His descendants lived quiet lives until one of them, Barack Obama, shattered the glass ceiling that said no man of African American heritage could become president of the United States.

Obama’s autobiography ‘Dreams of my Father’ and his early writings had all concentrated on the Kenyan side of his heritage, an understandable track given that his father had deserted the young man and left a deep void in his life, one he wanted to fill and understand.

Now as president far more focus is being given to his mother Ann Dunham’s family, where the Fulmouth Kearney connection kicks in.

Obama embraced those Irish roots on Monday. Gone was the cerebral, professor-like mien that has marked his years in office, a cool distant figure.

In its place was a smiling ,beaming, hugging, handshaking president who had , for a day at least, had absorbed some of the Bill Clinton ability to connect on a visceral level with people.

Ireland tends to provide an emotional transplant for politician. The JFK visit in 1963 kicked off the notion of a Ireland as a place where policy issues are not the main agenda, but the creation of a powerful emotional back story is.

Obama succeeded in creating that back story in Ireland, of embracing a heritage and history he shares with 40 million others who have Irish ancestry. It was a great day to be Irish.

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PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery

Guinness cash in on Obama's Moneygall vist

Follow all the stories on Obama and his trip to Ireland

FULL TEXT - President Obama's speech to crowd in Dublin's College Green
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deburca | May 24, 2011, 05:54 PM EDT

To all tbaggers- let me educate you on this visit.... "why do you think he’s in Ireland, man? You REALLY think that he’s there to drink, or to “get away”? Ireland recently had a housing bubble that burst, causing its banks to plummet. Very similar to us, right? Only they got bailed out by other countries in the European Union. They got a huge bailout, but they still find themselves in a horrible state of affairs because they haven’t created enough revenue to start paying back their loans to Germany (who are now declining to give any more loans to Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain because they believe they will default). So, he’s meeting there to talk with them about their debt, then go on to England to announce the new US-British council/sharing of intelligence, and he will be meeting with the rest of the EU leaders in the coming days to talk about how to deal with the potential delinquent countries. I would say that’s a pretty important trip, wouldn’t you? Especially because if Ireland defaults on their loans, then Greece, then Spain, and so on, you could be looking at the collapse of the euro – to give a bookmark: the stock market plunged by nearly 300 points after Japan got hit with a quake/tsunami/nuclear disaster, and became ineffective for nearly a month. Japan makes up 6% of the global economy, while the EU makes up a total of 20%. Imagine the jobs that would further be lost in the US if these countries defaulted. So isn’t it our business? Isn’t it his business?"

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jacersagain | May 24, 2011, 05:38 PM EDT

What John5319 and bronxjames have posted is utter tripe. To think that America has people like them as presidential voters is galling – no wonder they say ‘God help America!” >>> I agree w/ Niall’s article above: it WAS a great day to be Irish for Barack Obama – AND for us Irish to see another of our Irish forebears passed on his DNA to yet another American President. There was nothing fake about neither Mr. Obama’s nor us Irish people’s enjoyment of this social visit. As we say in Ireland, a great day was had by all and the craic was mighty! >>> TomSwinford (08.41AM) and bunkerhill (02.23PM) posted elegant comments. @ carrickcourt – your info might just have made me a ‘x 16’ removed cousin of Obama! >>> @ JOCSurf007 – all ancient Irish were scoundrels, even Queen Medb (Maeve) of Connaught and Ruari O’Connor, the last High King of Ireland. If you are descended from him, may I say: “Hello, Cousin ‘x 20’ removed!” It takes one scoundrel to know another..

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JOCSurf007 | May 24, 2011, 04:57 PM EDT

They must be easy to be blown away. Just because Obama has some Irish heritage does not exempt him from being a scoundrel. He is our entertainer and chief and hopefully will get the hook in 18 months. Apparantly he plays well in Ireland. I hope no one got a tingling down their leg as announced by Chris Matthews (CNBC) in admiration for Mr. Obama. The Irish are a happy and gracious people and admire them for their hospitalty to Queen Elizabeth and Obama. Hers was a much more meaningful and risky trip. I am told I am a descendant of Rory O'Connor, the last High King of Ireland. It only qualifies me to be Irish.....and perhaps to smell a rat

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deburca | May 24, 2011, 04:39 PM EDT

@carrickcourt - thanks that is very interesting info!

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carrickcourt | May 24, 2011, 04:36 PM EDT

I watched a bit of President O'Bama visit to Ireland at the RTE web site. The President appeared to be enjoying his pint at the pub in Moneygall. There is an interesting article about O'Bama's Irish roots in the new issue of Irish Roots magazine. Fulmoth Kearney's mother was born Phoebe Donovan. Phoebe's parents were Fulmoth Donovan and Mary Benn. The article points out that the Kearney's came to Moneygall from Shinrone in Co. Offaly. The author of the article talks of visiting Shinrone and meeting a Benn farmer there, the 8th generation of his family to farm this area.

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deburca | May 24, 2011, 04:29 PM EDT

@bunkerhill, great comment! One thing to remember though, is that our president has a 60% approval rating at the moment so the very vocal haters are in the minority. Also, even when his numbers are low, those numbers include the far Left who wish he was more Liberal so the numbers, even when they are low, do not reflect a lot of hatred, just some. And for those people there is nothing this president could do that they would not criticize, so they're a lost cause.

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bunkerhill | May 24, 2011, 02:33 PM EDT

I agree with RebelForce and Tom Swinford, it was a momentous week for the tiny Republic of Ireland. To have the queen of England acknowledge and bow before the Irish martyrs memorial, acknowledge Irish ancestry and see the legendary Irish warmth and welcome was astounding. President Barack Obama's welcome was over the moon and I wondered how he went on to Buckingham Palace after the speech he delivered in Dublin. As an old time American, 1719, I know the struggles Obama spoke about as my family was part of it. I also acknowledge the tremendous Irish contribution. There are so many Americans who hate Obama simply because of the color of his skin, an adaptation to the equatorial sun. That is patently unfair just as it is to consider blue eyed blonds a master race because of their adaption to the lack of sun. No matter what your politics, Obama has overcome extraordinary circumstances and is not afraid to speak his mind. I applaud the Irish Republic for giving him his due and a missing part of his ancestry. Tiny Ireland truly did itself proud but then that is nothing new.

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deburca | May 24, 2011, 02:03 PM EDT

My husband is from Ireland and we have lots of family and friends there, also a couple Americans there on holiday at the moment. ALL had nothing but positive things to say about the President's visit and were blown away by his speech!

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Listener | May 24, 2011, 01:10 PM EDT

I was disappointed with Obama.He was way off note both in Moneygall & College Green. In Moneygall, he should have taken a leaf from Reagan in Ballyporeen - ie behave like you're a guest, not like you own the place. Henry should have been given the role of host and Obama should have deferred to him in taking the lead in the pub and on the street, etc. Also, Obama left me wondering how he really could look so untouched in meeting his cousins. I would have expected him to be more curious about Henry (especially, in the way there was such an obvious resemblance, etc) - and, as for the ill-judged belittling comment, about Henry the 8th, enough said. Also, one could see in the speech why the American public have gone cold on him. There was simply none of himself in it - no humanity. We were led to believe that Douglas and O'Connell were people who had made an impact on him - but, he just mentioned them in a very mechanical way - with no follow-up or digression to indicate that he actually felt anything about them or that they had inspired him personally in any way. Likewise, his speechwriters missed the oportunity to link Garret Fitzgerald & O'Connell/Douglas - he seemed to miss the fact that the previous day the country had held a state funeral to honour a father figure to the nation (not just another bog standard politician). And, he should have come loaded with some announcement on something concrete & tangible. All this wouldn't have been so noticeable but for the fact that the Queen's visit was so different - her reverence at the Garden of Remerbrance and Islandbridge was so strikingly different to the superficial way he seemed to behave in Moneygall - there simply was no moment where you thought he was here because he truly wanted to connect with his roots. And, the early dash for London was symbolically all wrong, of course.

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irishwxman | May 24, 2011, 12:34 PM EDT

What John5319 just said times 10!!! Obama is about as Irish as the Austrian pope. Do you blind people not see this is a campaign stump? He played right into the hands of the Irish American voter....except this one.

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howareya | May 24, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT

I'm still ambivalent about Obama...hate some things he has done and agree with others. But I have to say, fair play to him for his actions in Ireland.

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MaryM232 | May 24, 2011, 11:38 AM EDT

Did you see the look on his face after he drank some of that stout, he certainly doesn't like it. Either that or he didn't care to be rubbing elbows with all those pale Irish folk that he wants to claim 'kinship' with, for political reasons. In all candor, I'm laughing as much at the Irish as at Obama, because he despises them, they know it, yet they're tying themselves in knots to kiss his a**. Were my very Irish grandparents alive to see this, they wouldn't have been surprised, they were very forthright on the cowardly and corrupt natures of too many of their fellow Irish, and they'd certainly be getting a boot in over the shamefulness of this display. I think my grandmother would say, here's proof, once and for all that the snakes were never run out of Ireland, for here we see them in evidence, slithering away in the gutter.

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John5319 | May 24, 2011, 11:38 AM EDT

And when Obama goes to France ... he will be "french", and when he goes to Poland ... he will be "polish", and if he ever goes back to the nation of his Fathers Birth he will be .... "back home again" !! All this lauding over this piece of mortal narcissistic flesh being makes me gag. I can't wait for November 2012 to see him out of office and see economic "responsibility" return to the Oval Office.

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francisquinn | May 24, 2011, 10:31 AM EDT

I am not proud to be Irish if I have to be associated with a "Hope and Change" person who does not believe that himself....When I see his face..i see...9% unempoyment.....$ 5 trillion in debt...Obamacre which he forced thru Congress with bribes...Foreign policy which is laughted at by the Russians and Chineese....I had better stop since I am running out of space...

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ochshane | May 24, 2011, 10:23 AM EDT

TomSwinford,Garret Fitzgerald, now there was a GIANT.

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