Obama Is Irish, Too

President begins Europe tour

(NEWSER) - President Obama arrived in Ireland today, and said the nation shares a “blood link” with his country because of the millions of Irish-Americans who live in the US. The president, of course, has his own blood link with Ireland, and is planning a visit to the home of his great-great-great grandfather in Moneygall today, the AP reports. Obama, who has been affectionately nicknamed O’Bama by locals, is in Ireland to hold talks on trade, Reuters adds. More»

(NEWSER) - Moneygall, Ireland, has two pubs, 298 people, and happens to be the birthplace of Barack Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather, the Los Angeles Times reports. The fact is not lost on the quaint hamlet, where one pub flies an American flag and the plumbing supply company uses the president’s face in its ads. “There’s a definitive blood link between our family and Barack Obama,” said one eighth cousin. More»

Obama gives uplifting speech about Irish-American friendship

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama let his Irish pride shine today in a speech before an exultant sea of people in Dublin, telling them he'd come to reaffirm the US' enduring friendship with Ireland, the AP reports. "There's always been a little green behind the red, white, and blue," he told the roughly 30,000 people crowding the streets of central Dublin to hear him, praising the many who had emigrated from Ireland to America, and reveling in his own Irish roots. More»

Moneygall readies for president's visit tomorrow

(NEWSER) - It's not often that drivers blink twice when passing the tiny Irish village of Moneygall, so one might imagine the frenzy that results when Barack Obama swings by for a visit tomorrow. Along with the country's trademark green and orange, locals have decked the County Offaly town out in red, white, and blue, opened an Obama Cafe, and started hawking Obama T-shirts in honor of the president's visit tomorrow, reports the Irish Times. The Offaly Independent has even been re-branded the Obama Independent. More»

David Simon's 2011 pay package worth more than $137M

(NEWSER) - You might want to wait to read this until you're somewhere it's OK to scream: It would take the average American worker 3,489 years to make as much money as one top CEO took home in just one year. David Simon of shopping mall developer Simon Property snagged a pay package last year worth more than $137 million (mostly in stock awards that could eventually be worth $132 million), and the AP offers up some comparisons to illustrate just how crazy that really is: More»