A star-struck Ireland opened its heart to Barack Obama yesterday and the US President followed suit, telling the crisis-hit nation where he claims roots that its future was bright.
A joyful Obama reeled off a dose of vintage hope-fuelled rhetoric at a huge campaign-style rally of 25,000 people in downtown Dublin, after downing a pint of Guinness in the tiny town where his great-great-great grandfather grew up.
The President proclaimed Ireland would overcome a crisis which saw it go cap-in-hand to the International Monetary Fund and European Union for a bailout by roaring “If Feidir Linn”, his famed slogan “Yes We Can” in Gaelic.
“Yours is a history frequently marked by the greatest of trials and the deepest of sorrows, but yours is also a history of proud and defiant endurance,” Mr Obama said.
“And Ireland, as trying as these times are, I know our future is still as big and as bright as our children expect it to be.”
The President also struck a personal note, telling the crowd that he and First Lady Michelle Obama “felt very much at home.”
“My name is Barack Obama of the Moneygall Obamas,” the US President told the crowd.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny had earlier warmed up the crowd by welcoming the Hawaii-born son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, back to his Irish “family.”
Earlier, Mr Obama braved a windswept helicopter ride to visit Moneygall, the County Offaly town from where his ancestor Falmouth Kearney, the humble 19-year-old son of a shoemaker set course for the new world 160 years ago. Crowds welcomed him to the town waving Irish tricolours and the Stars and Stripes.
It was in the quaint room of a crowded pub, that Mr Obama relished the creamy succulence of a Guinness while his wife gamely sampled a half pint.
“I just want you to know the President pays his bar tab,” Mr Obama said after spending 25 minutes in the pub.
The only downbeat moment of the day came when the White House announced that Mr Obama would leave for his next stop, London yesterday night instead of today to outrun an ash cloud spewing out of a volcano in Iceland.
That meant that the President would not spend a single night on Irish soil, after flying in on the long-awaited homecoming yesterday morning.
Ireland was the first stop on a four-nation tour which will also take in the G8 summit in France and a stop in Poland, with the visit likely to be dominated by the Nato-led operation in Libya and the war in Afghanistan.