WHITE HOUSE:THE WHITE House fountain was spewing green water yesterday as the new US administration celebrated its first St Patrick's Day, officials' lapels were sprouting shamrock and US president Barack Obama was spouting Irish.
“Is féidir linn,” the president said with a perfect blas after the Taoiseach told him the words translated as “yes we can”.
The two leaders were in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for the second stage of a celebration that stretched from morning until late last night. In the Oval Office earlier, Mr Obama noted the special bond he enjoyed with Mr Cowen.
“I, personally, take great interest on St Patrick’s Day because, as some of you know, my mother’s family can be traced back to Ireland – and it turns out that I think our first Irish ancestor came from the same county that the Taoiseach once represented. So we may be cousins,” he said.
“We haven’t sorted that through yet. But even if by blood we’re not related, by culture and affinity, by friendship and mutual interest, we are certainly related. And this gives us an opportunity to just continue to strengthen the incredible bonds that we have between the two countries.”
Mr Cowen said he had already checked the electoral register in his constituency for Mr Obama’s relations, adding that he was pleased he didn’t have to share a slate with the president.
On Capitol Hill later in the day, Mr Obama told the assembled congressmen and senators at the Speaker’s lunch that he only learned of his Irish origins during the presidential campaign last year.
“As has been mentioned, it was brought to my attention last year that my great-great-great grandfather on my mother’s side hailed from a small village in Co Offaly ,” he said.
“Now, when I was a relatively unknown candidate for office, I didn’t know about this part of heritage, which would have been very helpful in Chicago. So I thought I was bluffing when I put the apostrophe after the O. I tried to explain that “Barack” was an ancient Celtic name.”
Most of Washington was claiming Irish heritage yesterday as the city’s power brokers used every wheeze and stratagem they could think of to weasel their way into the White House for Mr Obama’s evening reception.
Almost 400 people were invited, but they were hugely outnumbered by those who were disappointed and disgruntled.
Earlier, Irish Ambassador to the US Michael Collins hosted a reception for 600 people at the elegant St Regis Hotel, which recently came into Irish ownership. The party was not all fun and games however, as guests were bombarded with information about investment opportunities in Ireland and handed leaflets about Enterprise Ireland and Tourism Ireland.
I asked a lobbyist who represents a number of foreign governments in Washington how much he would charge one of his clients to arrange the kind of access to the administration that Ireland received yesterday.
“You’d never get it,” he said. “But you could charge them millions every month just promising it.”