And then there's Barack Obama - or O'Bama, as he likes to be known in certain quarters. The elegant black presidential hopeful turns out - as I'm sure you know - to be partly descended from a certain Falmuth Kearney, who left Ireland for Amerikay in 1850. Obama has announced that he will visit his 'hometown', the amusingly named Moneygall, Co Offaly, when he is elected president. I am reminded of the farcical scenes in Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, in 1984, when Ronald Reagan returned "home" to sip a thimbleful of Guinness, hold a baby and proclaim himself "a common labourer".

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3533282.ece