‘The Dubliner in Washington’
President Obama reached out for a little luck of the Irish on this Saint Patrick’s Day. Obama, entourage in tow, traveled to The Dubliner, an Irish bar an Washington institution located on Capitol Hill.
As Obama worked on a pint of Guinness beer, members of what appeared to be a well-lubricated crowd chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” and “four more years! four more years!”
The president posted for pictures and watched a little Syracuse-Kansas State NCAA basketball with the excited, green-clad patrons.
“So an incumbent president facing a tough reelection fight walks into a bar…”
President Obama made a brief St Patrick’s Day pilgrimage to a Washington D.C. Irish bar, The Dubliner, on Saturday, where he quaffed a pint of Guinness and enjoyed cheers from a rowdy crowd of green-clad partiers, some of whom had staked out their spots as early as 10 am. He was accompanied by Henry Healy, described by a White House staffer as the president’s ancestral cousin from Moneygall, Ireland, as well as Ollie Hayes, the owner of the Publican bar that the president went to on Moneygall.
The president, thwarting any would-be pinchers with a pale moss-green jacket that read “National Parks, America’s Best Idea,” left the White House grounds at 12:46 pm, his motorcade snaking past well-wishers down to the Dubliner and arriving there at 12:59. A great cheer went up from patrons under a tent on the Dubliner’s sidewalk terrace.
Another cheer went up from the drinkers one door down at the Irish Times. At both spots, revelers adjusted their green schwag (your pooler was especially fond of the Leprecaun-style hats, though the green wigs and beads were nifty as well, while the shamrock face stickers looked like they would be regretted come Sunday morning) and fumbled with their smart phones to snap a photo. One woman loudly urged the president to “sign my face.” He declined, but spent a few minutes shaking hands outside before walking into the Dubliner, past a sign that read:
“He who drinks and knows his pace is always welcome in this place. But he who drinks more than his share is never welcome anywhere.”
The president got more raucous cheers as he walked in (if he paid the $10 cover, it was out of your pooler’s field of vision). At the bar in the Dubliner’s front room, the president enjoyed a Guinness, taking a couple of respectable sips with what your pooler read as an expression of contentedness.
The resulting Guinness mustache was, pooler and others agreed, “much more ‘David Niven,’ and much less (AP White House ace) Jim Kuhnhenn.” On two occasions, the hundreds of partiers sent up cries of “Four more years!” and there was a raucous “U.S.A! U.S.A.!” call at one point.
The president posed for a few pictures, including one with Danny Cooper Coleman, age 21 months. [Dubliner owner Danny Coleman later informed the pool that little Danny is his grandson, and that his photo adorned the “VIP Guest” badge that the president wore. Asked how the president fared with his Guinness, the elder Coleman told your pooler: “He finished it!” He said that the bartender who pulled the president’s pint is named Brian Keane. He also disclosed that he had received a scant 5 minutes warning that the president was coming.
The bar’s website is here: http://www.dublinerdc.com/
The pool was ushered out into the sidewalk space while the president continued to sip his beer, grin, shake hands, and chat with bar patrons under a TV that was showing basketball highlights.
White House trip director Marvin Nicholson came out briefly to chat with the pool. Marvin was rocking a bright green fleece. Your pooler chatted with Adam Joseph, a self-described Chicago native now living in DC, who described his brief exchange with the president.
“I told him ‘Mister President, it’s my birthday!’ And he said ‘Happy birthday.’” Joseph, who said he was now 29, smiled when your pooler asked whether he had cadged a photo with the president. “Kinda. Well, I got a picture *of* him.”
Survey Finds that ‘Irish People Are Emigrating By Choice’
There is a lot written and spoken about emigration and the problems it causes towns and villages here but the voice of the happy emigrant is rarely heard, the one who goes away and is only delighted to be in a new and exciting country.
The majority of Irish people emigrating are doing so by choice, not due to the economy.’ That’s the findings of the Ipsos/M.R.B.I. poll in today’s Irish Times.
The survey indicates that 59 per cent of emigrants freely chose to leave the country, while 41 per cent felt they were forced to go abroad.
The results come from interviews with Irish people who have emigrated since 2008.
72 per cent of those who left were employed at the time, while 7 out of 10 intended to return to live in Ireland at some point.
Reacting to the survey, young people’s organisation Youth Work Ireland said it’s little comfort to the unemployed.
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