…As White House fountains ran green for St. Patrick’s Day, the president saluted strong U.S.-Irish ties in a warm welcome for Ireland’s leaders and turned to a critical campaign backer, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, to fill the post of U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
And in a wee bit of blarney, Obama boasted of Irish ancestry.
“My great-great-great grandfather on my mother’s side hailed from a small village in County Offaly,” he said, recalling a genealogical gem from the campaign fitting for a meeting with Ireland’s prime minister, Brian Cowen.
Read the full AP article in the March 17, 2009 edition of NPR.org.
