We have great news in Moneygall! A visitor centre named after President Obama, which will focus on his ancestry, will open in two weeks’ time.
It will serve as a welcoming point into the ancestral home of the President and will tell the story of his Irish Ancestry and of that historic trip to Moneygall on 05/23/11 (3 years this Friday).
We will also highlight the other 21 American Presidents with Irish ancestry and many more famous Irish Americans. It will be an Oasis on the M7 Motorway, only 1.5 hours from Dublin.
This centre will be free to visit and I have been tasked with getting memorabilia for the area.
I was wondering if any of The Obama Diary’s followers would like to send us anything connected with President Obama, his 1st election, inauguration and the subsequent election and inauguration, that we could put on display in the centre?
If people are willing to share badges, bumper stickers, newspapers, election posters, etc, we would be delighted.
We understand people would like to keep these items, but maybe if they had duplicates - eg two copies of the same newspaper or magazine - they might consider sending them to me.
(Note from Chips: Anyone who would like to send items to Henry, just email me at [email protected] and I will give you his address)
We want this to be an exciting location with lots for people to see, so hopefully the dedicated The Obama Diary contributors and followers can send something to us for our exhibitions - and when you visit Moneygall, we will ensure you all receive the warmest of welcomes!
Kind Regards to everyone at The Obama Diary, and many thanks,
Henry
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Henry Healy, the President’s distant cousin, after arriving in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23, 2025 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama gestures to lipstick marks on his collar - the aunt of American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez kissed the president’s collar and left the lipstick marks just before he gave his remarks at an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month event
…… looking out the window of Marine One as he departs the White House South Lawn en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Vermont, March 30
…… working on his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, in the Oval Office, Saturday, March 3
….. signing the prosthetic arm of Sgt. Carlos Evans, USMC, after greeting wounded warriors in the East Room during their tour of the White House, March 6
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a Passover Seder Dinner for family, staff and friends, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, April 6
….. visiting the Dubliner bar with Henry Healy and Ollie Hayes from Moneygall on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17
….. meeting with, from left: John Prendergast, activist and Enough Project co-founder; Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman, the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan; and George Clooney, in the Oval Office, March 15
….. with Prime Minister David Cameron and Samantha Cameron during a State Dinner reception on the Truman Balcony of the White House, March 14
….. listening as PM David Cameron offers a toast during the State Dinner on the South Lawn of the White House, March 14. Samantha Cameron is seated at right
…… with Clark Kellogg before an interview for the CBS “Final Four Show”, March 29
…… reflected in sunglasses as he greets people on the tarmac following his arrival at Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine, March 30
….. boarding Air Force One in Roswell, N.M., March 21
President Barack Obama visits the Dubliner, an Irish pub in Washington, D.C., with his Irish cousin, Henry Healy, center, and Ollie Hayes, a pub owner in Moneygall, Ireland, on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama celebrates St. Patrick’s Day at the Dubliner Irish pub in Washington, March 17
Time: The number of people seeking unemployment aid fell to nearly a four-year low last week, an encouraging sign of continued improvement in the job market.
The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 358,000. That’s the second-lowest level since April 2008.
The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 366,250, the lowest since late April 2008.
The figures come a week after the government reported that employers added 243,000 net jobs last month. That pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent, the lowest in nearly three years.
When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.
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Steve Benen: The general trend on initial unemployment claims over the last few months has been largely encouraging, though there have been setbacks, and most analysts expected this morning’s report to show an uptick in filings.
The good news is, that didn’t happen. The better news is, initial jobless claims have reached one of the lowest levels we’ve seen in four years.
….. here’s the chart, showing weekly, initial unemployment claims going back to the beginning of 2007 (see above)
More here
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Ezra Klein
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Nick Baumann (Mother Jones): President Barack Obama’s decision to require most employers to cover birth control and insurers to offer it at no cost has created a firestorm of controversy. But the central mandate — that most employers have to cover preventative care for women — has been law for over a decade. This point has been completely lost in the current controversy, as Republican presidential candidates and social conservatives claim that Obama has launched a war on religious liberty and the Catholic Church.
Despite the longstanding precedent, “no one screamed” until now, said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law expert at George Washington University.
More here
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Link - thanks rikyrah
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Gail Collins (NYT): ….. This new rule on contraceptive coverage is part of the health care reform law …. The churches themselves don’t have to provide contraceptive coverage. Neither do organizations that are closely tied to a religion’s doctrinal mission. We are talking about places like hospitals and universities that rely heavily on government money and hire people from outside the faith.
We are arguing about whether women who do not agree with the church position, or who are often not even Catholic, should be denied health care coverage that everyone else gets because their employer has a religious objection to it. If so, what happens if an employer belongs to a religion that forbids certain types of blood transfusions? Or disapproves of any medical intervention to interfere with the working of God on the human body?
Organized religion thrives in this country, so the system we’ve worked out seems to be serving it pretty well. Religions don’t get to force their particular dogma on the larger public. The government, in return, protects the right of every religion to make its case heard.
More here
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Romney’s network of influence could make a real difference in the policies that matter to all of us. Get the word out, and share this infographic with everyone you know - click here
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Steve Benen: …. the Conservative Political Action Conference will get underway in Washington today, and will feature a cavalcade of Republican leaders and prominent far-right voices…. ….. every member of the Republican congressional leadership and each of the leading GOP presidential candidates will be on hand to shamelessly pander to the right-wing audience.
But they’re not the only ones who’ll be part of CPAC 2012: ….. CPAC is hosting the panel “The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity” with Peter Brimelow, the founder and head of VDARE.com. VDARE is a White Nationalist website, run by Brimelow, which frequently publishes the works of anti-Semitic and racist writers….
When BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray asked CPAC organizers if they would renounce Brimelow’s participation at the conference, they chose not to.
More here
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Rasmussen?!?!?! :shock:
Rasmussen: Voter confidence in President Obama’s handling of the economy is at its highest level in a year’s time. That’s in line with the recent upticks in overall economic confidence and in Obama’s job approval ratings as measured by the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Forty percent (40%) of Likely U.S. Voters now rate the president’s performance in the economic area as good or excellent - That’s up from 36% a week ago and is the highest positive finding since the first week in February 2011.
President Obama greets a little girl following his remarks during the Irish celebration at College Green in Dublin, Ireland, May 23
President Obama greets Hugh Hills, 85, in front of his home in Joplin, Mo., May 29. Hills hid in a closet during the tornado, which destroyed the second floor and half the first floor of his house
President Obama consoles a woman at the Joplin Community Memorial Service at Missouri Southern University, May 29.
President Obama and British PM David Cameron play table tennis with students at Globe Academy in London, May 24
President Barack Obama walks around the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London, England, May 24
President Barack Obama talks with pub-goers as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23
Please don’t let Bo ever see this photo: David Cameron introduces President Obama to Larry the cat at 10 Downing Street in London, May 25
First Lady Michelle Obama greets soccer star David Beckham at a dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II at Winfield House in London, May 25
Lots of new White House photos released today - see here
The quality of the video is woeful but I’m not sure how long the original will stay on the RTE site, so I thought I better record it - see the much better version here
Irish Independent: His voice, that velvet-rich, immense voice, rose and soared and his words were carried by the wind down Dame Street, around College Green, up towards Christchurch, over the sea of people who had come to hear him.
“Is féidir linn. Yes we can. Yes we can. Is féidir linn,” Barack Obama called into the late afternoon as the electric air crackled around him … A massive cheer rumbled and rolled down the carpet of humanity crammed into the city centre.
They were still so powerful, those three small words that swept him into the White House on a wave of hope and a desire for change … And they lost none of their magic as they tumbled in Irish from the lips of one of the most extraordinary orators of our times.
It’s hard to see where all that power and poetry is contained in the slender frame of the 44th President of America, but on a blustery night in Dublin city, his charisma warmed the chilliest soul.
….Enda was only half way through his speech when a bone-rattling roar erupted in front of him. And out on to the stage, hand-in-hand, strode Barack and Michelle Obama, waving and smiling as a chant of “Obama, Obama” echoed around the buildings.
….Slowly and gracefully, the speech built momentum and Obama wove together the shared experiences of Ireland and America and paid tribute to the generations of immigrants who travelled from this country - as did his own great-great-great grandfather from Moneygall in 1850 - to put down roots in his land.
…Waves of emotion poured from the crowd, many of them young people who have suddenly found themselves facing bleak options at a time when their dreams are shattered.
Before the final cheers had quite subsided, he was down in front of the stage, shaking hands, cuddling babies, signing autographs, shooting the breeze.
…Obama didn’t let us down, and he left us with his unforgettable call to arms. “Ireland, if anyone ever says otherwise, if anybody ever tells you that your problems are too big, your challenges are too great and we can’t do something, that we shouldn’t even try, think about all that we’ve done together, remember that whenever hardships the winter may bring, springtime is always just around the corner.
“And if they keep on arguing with you, just respond with a simple creed - Is feidir linn. Yes we can.”
White House.gov
pete souza, genius (say hello in the comments to the father of the lovely irish girl)
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** See comment #6 **
President Obama greets a little girl following his remarks during the Irish celebration at College Green in Dublin, Ireland, May 23
President Obama greets Hugh Hills, 85, in front of his home in Joplin, Mo., May 29. Hills hid in a closet during the tornado, which destroyed the second floor and half the first floor of his house
President Obama consoles a woman at the Joplin Community Memorial Service at Missouri Southern University, May 29.
President Obama and British PM David Cameron play table tennis with students at Globe Academy in London, May 24
President Barack Obama walks around the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London, England, May 24
President Barack Obama talks with pub-goers as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23
Please don’t let Bo ever see this photo: David Cameron introduces President Obama to Larry the cat at 10 Downing Street in London, May 25
First Lady Michelle Obama greets soccer star David Beckham at a dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II at Winfield House in London, May 25
Lots of new White House photos released today - see here