At the mid-point of her eight-day trip to California, the President, Mrs McAleese, continued to be questioned by audiences in San Francisco this week on two topics. Will the Celtic Tiger economy sustain itself, and will the peace process survive? These were the recurring queries of a diverse array of business people and academics.
Sounding optimistic on both counts, Mrs McAleese told a group at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business that there was currently "a slightly gloomy mood" surrounding the peace process but that such setbacks were to be expected.
"We come out of a culture of conflict that is centuries old," she said. "We are trying to abandon that culture, to create from a blank sheet of paper a culture of consensus. I believe we have two sides completely committed to the Good Friday agreement, but they don't trust each other."
At an earlier meeting with reporters, Mrs McAleese said she believed Mr David Trimble was deeply committed to the implementation of the agreement. There were good reasons for each side not to trust the other, she said, but both needed faith.
In her speech at Stanford, Mrs McAleese said: "It is bad for business if a significant number of people are not part of the normal civic society. Not just because taxation and expenditure are higher, crimes rises, the supply of skilled labour is lower, but also because businesses do not exist in a vacuum outside the general social and cultural environment."
Mrs McAleese referred to the recent UN Report on Poverty, which showed that the US and the Republic, in that order, have the highest and second-highest levels of poverty among 17 western states surveyed.
"It is important that we do not assume that economic success and social disparity inevitably go hand in hand. A vibrant modern economy is not necessarily a healthy one if large sections of its citizens are experiencing exclusion and inequality," she said.
Mrs McAleese dipped her toes into the treacherous waters of San Francisco politics as she met Mayor Willie Brown at City Hall. A controversial and flamboyant figure, Mr Brown is locked in a three-way race for re-election against two opponents who are also courting the city's sizeable Irish vote.
Later in the day Mrs McAleese was set to give an address at the Commonwealth Club and attend a reception for the Irish community. Tomorrow she will travel to Sacramento for a meeting with Governor Gray Davis, who is to visit Ireland in October.