According to Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Barack Obama will visit the American president's ancestral home during an official trip to Ireland this May. The Taoiseach, who embodies an office that combines the role of prime minister and head of government, met his Yankee counterpart at a White House dinner last night. The Irish Times, a Dublin newspaper, carried the story.I had heard rumors during the 2008 American presidential campaign that candidate Obama had a bit of the Irish in him. I attributed the claim to bar room hyperbole and didn't give it much thought. Some months after Obama became president, he waded into an episode involving racism, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and a Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer. Perhaps inspired by his distant Irish ethnicity, the Prez invited the two antagonists to discuss their differences over a beer. Now Barack Hussein Obama has scheduled a return to the "ould sod." He'll experience an Irish spring, the island's undeniable charm, and the sometimes sharp wit of its people. The Gaelic nation also has something in common with its Irish brother: neither can stand the British. Now that's one bar room conversation I'd like to hear.
Just for fun, I've included an Irish tune about the 44th American president.
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