Ireland Looking at Obama

The tables are turned today and instead of me eavesdropping on the Irish, I hear the RTE afternoon drivetime chat show discussing President Obama (they pronounce O'bama like Alabama) on the first anniversary of his inauguration. Since my first trip to Ireland in 2003 I have always been taken aback by how much more the Irish know about our government than we know about theirs. Very few Americans would know who the Irish Taoiseach is (Brian Cowen). We don't get the news from there and many people here think there are leprechauns on the roadsides looking for their pots of gold. Few Americans know that Ireland is very multicultural. Just walk around Cork City and hear all European languages and meet a woman from Mongolia working in a toy shop. Few Americans know that what was a few years ago the Celtic Tiger is now an economy on its knees. This morning, Pat Kenny was hosting a discussion about a proposed "banking inquiry commission" to find out who is to blame for the banking collapse. Laughter greeted Minister John Gormley's projecting the inquiry into 2011 and beyond. In the meantime, air traffic controllers have called an industrial action and closed airport traffic this afternoon...just when the icy roads had melted and flood waters subsided.