Of course I can’t be absolutely sure if I was the first but I’m certain I was among the first Irish writers to inform readers about a young Chicago Senator who was making waves and had ambitions to be President of the United States. At that time we had no idea that Barack Obama had any Irish roots.
The same cannot be said for the next two Irish Americans who have unofficially set their eyes on the White House and have already started pre-campaigns to test the water.
Republican Congressman, Pete King of New York, has strong connections to Inishbofin while the grandparents of the Democratic Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, came from Connemara.
Watch out for them because my US contacts say they are definitely movers and shakers and if Hillary Clinton doesn’t seek and secure the Democratic nomination O’Malley (he is a huge Saw Doctors fan) will be among the front runners.
Meanwhile, congratulations to Anne Anderson, who is originally from, Clonmel, on becoming Ireland’s first female Ambassador to the United States. She says high on her priority list is the plight of up to 50,000 undocumented Irish persons in the USA. Ms Anderson has forty years experience in the Department of Foreign Affairs and this is her fifth ambassadorial posting. Her father, Tom, was a psychiatric nurse at St Luke’s Hospital and her mother, Madge, was a post office worker.