pete souza, genius (say hello in the comments to the father of the lovely irish girl)

** See comment #6 **

President Obama greets a little girl following his remarks during the Irish celebration at College Green in Dublin, Ireland, May 23

President Obama greets Hugh Hills, 85, in front of his home in Joplin, Mo., May 29. Hills hid in a closet during the tornado, which destroyed the second floor and half the first floor of his house

President Obama consoles a woman at the Joplin Community Memorial Service at Missouri Southern University, May 29.

President Obama and British PM David Cameron play table tennis with students at Globe Academy in London, May 24

President Barack Obama walks around the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London, England, May 24

President Barack Obama talks with pub-goers as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23

Please don’t let Bo ever see this photo: David Cameron introduces President Obama to Larry the cat at 10 Downing Street in London, May 25

First Lady Michelle Obama greets soccer star David Beckham at a dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II at Winfield House in London, May 25

Lots of new White House photos released today – see here

twitteriffic

Larger image here

Irish Central: President Obama’s visit to Ireland, and more importantly his famous visit to Ollie Hayes’s pub in Moneygall to enjoy a pint of Guinness, along with the thousands of people who tweeted about the President’s visit, inspired a Wicklow businessman to create this piece of art.

Alan O’Flaherty … created a one off image of Obama made from approximately 1,000 Twitter avatars of users who tweeted on May 23rd … the poster is entitled “Is Féidir Linn” (“Yes We Can”) .. “It’s made up of 1,000 photographs of people who tweeted about the visit on the day. I got the idea of making the image after seeing something similar done when Obama was first elected president.”

hic

😆

‘vigour, zest and character’

Irish Times: Nothing quite prepares a person for the sight of the President of the United States wandering so close. Or the impish look in his eye as he gladhands his way through the wheelchair enclosure and coolly takes the phone from Jessica Walls to say “Hi” to her mother Glynis, minding her business in her Skerries kitchen, cooking spaghetti Bolognese. No point in pretending to be objective.

Just surrender and swoon. “I was 10 yards from him”, crooned Liz O’Donnell (a former member of the Irish parliament). And? “What a beautiful man. He’s gorgeous, he walks like a Kenyan – they have such elegant body movement….”

Psychologist Maureen Gaffney raised the tone just a tad by quoting Edmund Burke. “Obama is a natural aristocrat. He is emotionally pitch perfect. Burke called it the natural aristocracy – people of unbelievable vigour, zest and character…..”

Suddenly the interminable hours of standing and waiting were a distant memory … “Ah, it’s a bit like childbirth”, sang a middle-aged Clare woman, “you forget all the pain when you get this – God, I don’t know – this MIRACLE put in front of you”.

…This, as a man told his small daughter, is “what you’ll be telling your grandchildren about. . . that you saw Barack Obama with your own big brown eyes”.

And here he was … Gazing out from his bullet-proof glass screens to a 50,000-strong crowd crammed in the reserved area in College Green, the American president had them from the moment he announced he was Barack Obama – “of the Moneygall Obamas. And I’ve come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way”.

From somewhere in the crowd came the roar, “I’ve got it here!”

“Is that where it is?”, asked the president.

“Some wise Irish man or woman once said that broken Irish is better than clever English,” he went on, to loud applause. “So here goes:  Tá áthas orm bheith in Éirinn – I am happy to be in Ireland! I’m happy to be with so many a cháirde”…

“God, the Irish language is going to power ahead after this,” said Maureen Gaffney. Liz O’Donnell marvelled at how he pronounced all the syllables in “orm”. He and Michelle were feeling very much at home, he said “even more at home after that pint that I had. . . Feel even warmer”.

…A man nearby muttered wearily about the “Paddywhackery”. But it was “charming”, argued his wife. “But he’s saying nothing,” insisted the husband. “Oh give us a break – he’s feckin’ beautiful,” retorted the wife. The husband, sadly, had no answer.

…As the crowds broke up, they walked lightly to the rhythm of upbeat American marches, and it wasn’t just the women. “That crowned a perfect week,” said Fine Gael TD Andrew Doyle as he headed home. “I detest hero worship but I don’t mind worshipping such a hero,” said Cathal Grennan….

an unforgettable call to arms

Irish Independent: His voice, that velvet-rich, immense voice, rose and soared and his words were carried by the wind down Dame Street, around College Green, up towards Christchurch, over the sea of people who had come to hear him.

“Is féidir linn. Yes we can. Yes we can. Is féidir linn,” Barack Obama called into the late afternoon as the electric air crackled around him … A massive cheer rumbled and rolled down the carpet of humanity crammed into the city centre.

They were still so powerful, those three small words that swept him into the White House on a wave of hope and a desire for change … And they lost none of their magic as they tumbled in Irish from the lips of one of the most extraordinary orators of our times.

It’s hard to see where all that power and poetry is contained in the slender frame of the 44th President of America, but on a blustery night in Dublin city, his charisma warmed the chilliest soul.

….Enda was only half way through his speech when a bone-rattling roar erupted in front of him. And out on to the stage, hand-in-hand, strode Barack and Michelle Obama, waving and smiling as a chant of “Obama, Obama” echoed around the buildings.

….Slowly and gracefully, the speech built momentum and Obama wove together the shared experiences of Ireland and America and paid tribute to the generations of immigrants who travelled from this country – as did his own great-great-great grandfather from Moneygall in 1850 – to put down roots in his land.

…Waves of emotion poured from the crowd, many of them young people who have suddenly found themselves facing bleak options at a time when their dreams are shattered.

Before the final cheers had quite subsided, he was down in front of the stage, shaking hands, cuddling babies, signing autographs, shooting the breeze.

…Obama didn’t let us down, and he left us with his unforgettable call to arms. “Ireland, if anyone ever says otherwise, if anybody ever tells you that your problems are too big, your challenges are too great and we can’t do something, that we shouldn’t even try, think about all that we’ve done together, remember that whenever hardships the winter may bring, springtime is always just around the corner.

“And if they keep on arguing with you, just respond with a simple creed – Is feidir linn. Yes we can.”

….he touched us all.

Full article here

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night everyone

Too many blissful moments to choose from today, but go on then …. I’ll pick these three minutes … just listen to the crowd from 0:18 and watch the President and First Lady’s reaction:

And these five photos….

1 Because the President visiting Ireland meant so, so much to Dan Rooney – just look at his face at Dublin airport this morning, and the way he’s holding the President’s hands:

2 Because the sight of President Obama with a hurley in his hands just cracked me up …. especially when he threatened to use it against Congress:

3 Because the Obamas’ visit to Moneygall gave the village’s people a day they will never, ever forget:

4 Because this photo just showed how fun and utterly lovely the first couple are:

5 Because, for me, this photo is iconic. The sight of President Obama pointing towards the skies, in the general direction of the Irish flag, will hardly make Ireland’s economic disaster go away …. but his speech today made more than a few Irish folk believe that Ireland can come back again: Is Féidir Linn … Yes We Can.

Can I have a sixth? Please? Thanks!

Because they said President Obama couldn’t possibly attract as big a crowd in Dublin as Bill Clinton did 15 years ago.

He did 😉

Thank you for your company on a beautiful day – I won’t be able to post as frequently tomorrow, but I’ll do my best 😉

the perfect pint!

President Barack Obama watches as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint at Ollie Hayes Pub in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

moneygall

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are seen caught in a rainstorm in Moneygall