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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Irish leader Enda Kenny's powerful eloquence in first White House visit --Obama remembers Frederick Douglass in Ireland

Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 11:01 PM

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The White House: President Obama looks older than a year ago when I saw him in the flesh last. There are more creases on his skin, more tiredness lurking around his eyes.

No occupant of the White House leaves office unscathed, the heavy burdens of the job drag down even the most vital of men.

This night Obama looks tired but is in fine spirits. Like most American politicians, especially those from Chicago he is comfortable in an Irish crowd and it shows.

His annual White House party has become the highlight of the Irish social year with tickets scarcer than a hen's teeth. On this night we had all crowded into the East Room to hear Obama, Vice President Biden and new Irish leader Enda Kenny proclaim a new era in Irish American relations.

Outside the White House fountain spurted deep green water and Obama joked that the White House workmen had done a proper job this year, unlike last when the watery green color had hardly done the job.

Obama began with a telling history lesson.

He described the voyage of the great African American leader Frederick Douglass to Ireland where he went to escape the slave catchers in 1845.

Douglass became heavily influenced by Daniel O'Connell, the 'Liberator' who led Irish Catholics to emancipation and detested slavery. O'Connell's embrace of non violence deeply impacted Douglass as Obama pointed out.

He talked about the upcoming visit to Ireland and what it would mean to him. Arguably He will be the first truly significant black figure since Douglass to visit Ireland.

The linkage between black and Irish was also on the mind of Enda Kenny.

In a soaring speech, among the finest I have heard by any Irish politician, he compared the slave trade in West Africa that brought millions in chains to America to the flight from death and starvation of the Irish who came on the coffin ships.

"Together we built America" he said.

He spoke about the importance of the upcoming visit by Obama coming at a time of great trial and challenge for Ireland.

He made it clear that Obama would get a hero's welcome in his ancestor's village in Offaly and that the plain people of Ireland would give him a wonderful reception.

Looking at Kenny so in command and coming across so powerfully I could not but think that cometh the hour cometh the man.

He certainly possesses that great ingredient for success which is sheer luck.

His predecessor Brian Cowen, a thoroughly decent man, was hit with a ton of bricks soon after taking office when the economic crisis hit. He never recovered

Kenny on contrast will host the American president the Queen of England and if reports are true the pope next year.

But Kenny gives the clear impression that high office will not daunt him, that he will remain rooted in the soil of his native County Mayo and not develop the arrogance so prevalent in the previous government.

He has certainly got off to a lightning start in America.

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Newrone | Mar 27, 2011, 11:17 AM EDT

@Trealach: "...it was incumbent on him to open his speech ás Gáilge and continue in English. Like it or not, ás Gáilge is the official language of Ireland." - What's "Gáilge"? The speech was OK; a bit too much from the paper than from the heart - Looked like it was someone else who wrote it. But then, he's standing next to a master speaker himself.

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Trealach | Mar 25, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT

I wouldn't start yelling praise for Kenny just yet. The Moriarty Tribunal's report on corruption has put Fine Gael leagues ahead of Fianna Fail, with the greatest level of corruption since the foundation of the state - over the awarding of the second mobile (cellphone) license, and Kenny is stuck right in the middle of it along with his newly appointed Minister for Finance - Michael Noonan, who was a member of the government cabinet during that period. Whatever is said about Cowen (Biffo the clown) and his government, we've merely swapped him for Podge and Rodge. The only thing left to determine is - which one is Podge? Kenny certainly had a good speech writer, but as leader of this country it was incumbent on him to open his speech ás Gáilge and continue in English. Like it or not, ás Gáilge is the official language of Ireland.

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curranart | Mar 25, 2011, 06:41 AM EDT

nNo better words spoken than these by mactala below. "Thug sé óráid "mhor" i teanga choimhthíoch. Is mor an trua níl labhrionn sé as Gaeilge. Ach, fan nóiméad, rinne mé dearmad, fuath a bheith aige ar an theanga Ghaeilge agus gach rudaí Éireannach. Is náire é. He gave a "great" speech in a foreign language. It is a pity he did not speak in Irish. But, wait a minute, I forgot, he hates the Irish langange and all things Irish. He is a disgrace.

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seanomelbourne | Mar 20, 2011, 06:26 PM EDT

"Enda's powerful eloquence" It's not the singer we're interested in Niall it's the song.

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Aughavey | Mar 20, 2011, 12:22 PM EDT

correction - she is the Queen of Great Britain & Northern Ireland and Queen of Canada and Australia and New Zealand and the Commonwealth.

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mactala | Mar 20, 2011, 07:49 AM EDT

Thug sé óráid "mhor" i teanga choimhthíoch. Is mor an trua níl labhrionn sé as Gaeilge. Ach, fan nóiméad, rinne mé dearmad, fuath a bheith aige ar an theanga Ghaeilge agus gach rudaí Éireannach. Is náire é. He gave a "great" speech in a foreign language. It is a pity he did not speak in Irish. But, wait a minute, I forgot, he hates the Irish langange and all things Irish. He is a disgrace.

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Searlit | Mar 19, 2011, 04:16 PM EDT

Jacersagain, thanks for watching my back, as to haikued, he hasn't taken a stab at my posts before. Oh, well he kind of makes my point in his 3/19 post. It is a complicated issue. As Socrates said 'The only thing I know, is that I don't know anything.'

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maloney | Mar 19, 2011, 03:52 PM EDT

Both men give great speeches. hopefully Enda can lead Ireland to a brighter future. As for obama the only thing he's good at are lying and giving speeches.

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eiriamach | Mar 19, 2011, 11:28 AM EDT

It's ironic how much the Irish immigrants had in common with Douglass and other free blacks. Douglass saw it even if the Irish immigrants did not. Imagine the thoughts of the Irish who rioted in NYC in 1863. They had survived the Famine years and were living with the ghosts of 1844-1850. They came in coffin ships because of a promise of freedom and some hope of prosperity. The fortunate ones worked 60-hour weeks of killing work with few union protections, to build a great city. Then, out of a mistaken sense of loyalty to priests, they destroyed and killed in July 1863 to resist an American president they saw as a tyrant--imposing the Civil War draft on them but not on the Protestants who could buy their way out of it and not on the blacks who would take their jobs when they were gone to the fields of war. They also had a competing Catholic duty, to obey just laws, and in the end they did. But they must have lived out the remainder of their lives after that War with so many ghosts of the past, so many wretched memories, as well as memories of some just causes fought for and won or bequeathed to their descendants and the future. If ever any should find the mercy of God and the understanding of historians, they should.

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antoman | Mar 19, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT

@georgyboy-are all people from Wisconsin and of Italian descent as condescending as you?Or are you unique in this respect?

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GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2011, 10:55 AM EDT

I'm sure I'm not the only reader who feels soiled every time he reads a post from antoman aka sirpeter. Why all the filthy abuse, SIRANTOMAN, are you unable to express yourself in normal English? Is there no community college or adult literacy course you could enroll in near where you live?

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antoman | Mar 19, 2011, 07:37 AM EDT

@georgyboy/woundedbolix et al..do I use this account to read it or do I create a different account for each chapter?Do I then having read the book sit down with myself/ourselves and discuss what I/we read?I think the difficult part is choosing what account to use to leave a comment here to say I/we read it without looking like an entire douchebag like yourself.

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GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2011, 06:54 AM EDT

There is a book called Celts and Copperheads, can't remember the author, which analyzes public opinion in Ireland and Irish America at the time of the War Between the States. It clearly shows that the majority of Irish, both in Ireland, the CSA and even the USA supported the principle of States' Rights and Independence. Sirpeter/antoman, with the aid of a good dictionary you may find yourself able to understand that book. Read it together--sirpeters, you start at the beginning: antoman, you start at the end. You'll meet in the middle, like the Continental Railroad!

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haikued2 | Mar 19, 2011, 03:02 AM EDT

jacersagain, it was not unwarranted at all. The history of the Irish in America is such that in many places they competed directly with "African Americans" for work and the ethnic neighborhoods were about competing for employment and survival. Another posting says the Protestants were pro-abolition, which may be true, but don't be thinking they were pro-Irish. Cromwell had shown, clearly, what the English Protestants thought of the Irish. There were virtually no Catholics in most of the slave owning southern states, and blacks there didn't even begin to be considered equal until the 1964 legislation. It is a complex issue here, but drawing a general conclusion from one incident is simply poor or perhaps wishful thinking.

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eiriamach | Mar 18, 2011, 11:26 PM EDT

I meant to write 1863, not 1853, as the Draft Riots year of course. This article was good reading, and the speeches of Kenny and Obama will be more good reading!

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