"Irish Eyes Are Smiling!"

If you have been following this space for a while, you know I generally dial it back during holidays. That seems particularly apt when an important aspect of the holiday is consuming alcoholic beverages, and the following day happens to be a work day. To wit, since that is the hand that has been dealt, Break It Down is breaking it down!

As we wind our way through the year, there has been a lot going on. National and global economic distress has abounded. When combined with a host of other individual and communal concerns, it is easy to have missed the fact we are nearly a quarter of the way through what seems like just a short while ago was a New Year. Yesterday we observed, and many celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. The occasion is an antecedent to spring, and an opportunity to recognize a variety of national, regional, local, and even personal ties to Ireland.

It is common for folks of Irish descent, and those who just love a good party, to don green attire, and if personal habits and taste buds permit, to imbibe mass quantities of green beer. In many ways the prevailing attitude can be concisely stated by paraphrasing the now infamous February 16th Newsweek cover headline, “We are all Irish Now.”

Obviously that is an overstatement; but in the spirit of the occasion, perhaps not by much. So I ask you, what do the names Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have in common?

If you used your brilliant sense of deductive reasoning to beat the buzzer and answer, “Who are presidents of the United States, Alex,” you get partial credit, because even though that is not the answer I am looking for, it is a statement of fact. If you used your sense of deductive reasoning, have all your appendages, and counted your fingers and toes, and added three, and then responded, “Who are twenty-three presidents of the United States, Alex,” you get more, but still partial credit; for the same reason noted above. Now, if you used deductive reasoning, counted all your fingers and toes, added three, and were shrewd enough to inject the Title above into the equation, and you then answered, “Who are the twenty-three United States presidents who share Irish heritage, Alex,” then you, my friend, answered the bonus question correctly.

Imagine; here we were all this time thinking President “O’bama” was making history as the first African American president, when in actuality, he is really the twenty-third Irish American president. Indeed, the residents of County Offaly must be very proud; “Irish Eyes Are Smiling!”

I’m done; holla back!

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http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

http://www.countyoffaly.com/offaly_map.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick's_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_American

http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/20000317irish9.asp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_st_patrick_s_day

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-17-voa31.cfm

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/17/obama-lauds-irish-ties/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-03-17-stpatricksday_N.htm

http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/national/nat_ap_wash_obama_lauds_irish_us_ties_2009031712112260847

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZKMY8k4IunVoByD9RiLPV3le5DgD96VSRG00

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Irish-American-Heritiage-Month-2009/