President Obama Celebrates His Irish Roots

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President Obama landed in Dublin
today as the sixth United States
president to visit Ireland and
celebrate his Irish roots.

"It is heartwarming to be here,"
Obama stated. "People even
arranged for the sun to come
out shortly after I arrived."

Presidents John F. Kennedy,
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan,
Bill Clinton and George W.
Bush visited the small island
home of 4.5 million people.

His visit will include an
hour-long visit to Moneygall,
in County Offaly, where his
great-great-great grandfather
was born in 1830, and a speech
in Dublin at an outdoor concert
to tens of thousands of people.

Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton are
the most celebrated presidents
to have visited. Kennedy came
first, in 1963, just months
before his assassination, and
spent three days. Reagan visited
another tiny village south of
Moneygall called Ballyporeen to
celebrate his family's ancestry
there.

Clinton helped to bring peace
to Northern Ireland in 1998
through the signing of the Good
Friday Agreement.

Obama's visit is being celebrated
culturally too. There's a new 90-
minute film, Barack Obama's Irish
Roots, which just premiered at
Cannes. There's a painting by
former Miss Ireland Nuala Holloway,
Famine Ship, depicting the type
of vessel that would have brought
Falmouth Kearney, Obama's ancestor,
to America

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110523080037writ.nb/topstory.html