All this fawning over Obama is embarrassing.

FirstHundred

He is just another political sleaze bag, albeit more charming and eloquent than our native-born sleaze bags. The fawning admiration the Irish people showed him was foolish and undignified. Cynicism is oftentimes an Irish reflex, but for some reason contact with the Obama PR machine only provoked in us childish credulity.

Discuss.

Yakult

:pac:

/discussed.

stoneill

But he is lovely.

ballsymchugh

nah it's not. tis right gas man.

Aoifey!

FirstHundred wrote: »

Discuss.

No.

guitarzero

In case you havent seen reeling in the years, there is nothing the Irish do better than to all crowd around a high status politician, smiling and cheering in a such a worshipping, "we are not worthy" manner. It adds a bit of theater to their crappy, bland filled lives.

FirstHundred

stoneill wrote: »

But he is lovely.

If you were an AFPAK shepherd who lost his family to a Predator drone you might have a different opinion.

skelliser

i agree.

Bar the colour of his skin the man has done absolutly nothing to warrant the attention he gets.

ballsymchugh

guitarzero wrote: »

In case you havent seen reeling in the years, there is nothing the Irish do better than to all crowd around a high status politician, smiling and cheering in a such a worshipping, "we are not worthy" manner. It adds a bit of theater to their crappy, bland filled lives.

it's either that or look out the window complaining about the rain.

OPENROAD

Aoifey! wrote: »

No.

is féidir linn

Flojo

PILF tbh :pac:

Chuck Stone

Pretty much.

Aoifey!

Flojo wrote: »

PILF tbh :pac:

Hell yeah!

Hazys

All this negativity and begrudging is embrassing

Seloth

Its embarrassing and truly laughable.My mother was excited to see him on the television and I couldnt care less about him being in Offaly but truth be told if you or I or any of us where there I'm sure we'd be the same.

I can remember once when went to a gig with a few friends and when we were walking back to the que from a shop we spotted some of the band members who noticed we had seen them.Now they got a bit unease looking and two of my friends ran wanted to run over to them and did but I could see they really didnt want some annoying young fans runing over so I didnt bother.Needless to say the two lads ran over and said "Your -Insert band name-" to which they replied "Yup" and continued on :pac:

J. Marston

Lighten up, ya big moany bollocks.

Barry is class.

cloneslad

If it makes people happy, then let them be. It's been all doom and gloom stories for the past 3 years and it'll be back to them again next week.

I think he looked genuinely happy with the response he got, whatever his political policies etc, he seems like he enjoyed his trip and he made many thousands of people happy for the day.

Plus he even managed to get me to sit down and put up with Dave Fanning mouthing over the top of the concert...I HATE Dave Fanning, so Obama's obviously doing something right.

jill_valentine

J. Marston wrote: »

Lighten up, ya big moany bollocks.

A good 75% of posts on the internet could benefit immensely from the inclusion of this simple phrase. Science.

Napper Hawkins

Go kill some zombies Valentine.

kraggy

His wife is seriously hot.

Something about her attitude as well that is cool. She's smart and you wouldn't mess with her kinda thing.

Jimmy Garlic

guitarzero wrote: »

In case you havent seen reeling in the years, there is nothing the Irish do better than to all crowd around a high status politician, smiling and cheering in a such a worshipping, "we are not worthy" manner. It adds a bit of theater to their crappy, bland filled lives.

Reminds me of the worship of that slimeball Bill Clinton when he came to visit, he was treated as if he was a living saint. Made me want to vomit at the time.

I think most Irish people are pathetic by nature, when I saw that tool Enda Kenny scream "He is the American dream." I felt my lunch move slightly upwards.. A phoney worshipping a phoney.

Ireland is a parody of itself, a freakshow.

Eve_Dublin

Give me a break. All other nationalities would've had the same rent-a-crowd if he visited any other country.

syklops

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Reminds me of the worship of that slimeball Bill Clinton when he came to visit, he was treated as if he was a living saint. Made me want to vomit at the time.

I think most Irish people are pathetic by nature, when I saw that tool Enda Kenny scream "He is the American dream." I felt my lunch move slightly upwards.. A phoney worshipping a phoney.

Ireland is a parody of itself, a freakshow.

I feel sorry for you.

At the very least, just dont give a crap. That you apparently have physical side effects from seeing people happy is truly saddening.

endabob1

Like him or not, he is the most powerful man in the world and we could do with a few friends like him.
Personally I find him engaging, a spectacularly good orator and as an immigrant myself I think he does embody not just the American dream, but I suppose the dreams of everyone who has had to emigrate at some point. His ancestors both recent & not so recent left their homes to make a better life, it's fantastic that the son of a guy from a rural village in Kenya is now president of the US.

RachaelVO

Oh FFS, a little bit of sunshine in an otherwise dismal place! People had a little bit of an expectation, and hoping that maybe just maybe Baracks visit might yield something good for the country.

Fail to see how that is wrong.

amdublin

But I loves him :eek:

Is feidir linn

lamai

Who cares what he is, He made a good speech and made a few people happy,

makes a change from 24/7 doom and gloom on the tv. lighten up you miserable

feckers.

Paparazzo

You're right op, we should have ignored him. Imagine not one person turned up to his speech, that would had showed him

djdrobins

I think we did ourselves proud, while he was here. He and his wife seemed to have a great time - they were welcomed and embraced it. It is not only us falling over the presidents when they arrive - they genuinely seem to enjoy the atmosphere when they come over, and it is a sign that we are welcoming and friendly.
Don't forget - the world was watching Ireland yesterday, they watched every second he was in the country - I am in France at the moment for the last few months and they were even saying here that it looked like he actually had a good time in Moneygal, that he and his wife really got into a meet and greet with the locals.

You can't fake that sort of thing - that's why Bush didn't bother too much - not because he had to history to Ireland, but as he just didn't care to try.

I think his visit will have only positive effects on Ireland and it was worth it. We did ourselves proud yesterday and this crack on giving out is pointless.

Caoimhín

Some of you really need to get laid.

Delancey

Hate to piss on anyones chips but did anybody check out the US coverage of the visit ?
It was very poor coverage compared to prior visits - CBS news featured it for a few seconds while NBC only mentioned the visit in the context of the President being kept briefed on the tornado situation in Missouri.

The tornadoe killing so many people really dominated US news channels and knocked the Obama visit way down the list.

Don't expect floods of American tourists followng this visit ( which lets face it was under 12 hours ).

tfitzgerald

I thought he did ok , came across grand and helped lighten the mood of the country for a while

Plazaman

Caoimhín wrote: »

Some of you really need to get laid.

Oh...oh....me first, me first. Where de wimmin at ?

I'll be voting for Barack in 2012 if i have to go over and take up citizenship in the States or else blag my way into a polling station with fake ID and loud clothes and impersonate someone. Legal? No Sir. Fun? Hell ya.

Caoimhín

Plazaman wrote: »

Oh...oh....me first, me first. Where de wimmin at ?

I'll be voting for Barack in 2012 if i have to go over and take up citizenship in the States or else blag my way into a polling station with fake ID and loud clothes and impersonate someone. Legal? No Sir. Fun? Hell ya.

You wan boom boom? Fi dolla.

Laisurg

I agree 100% i cringed at the way people were going on about it... honestly why the fúck would you care? Read a status from some gob****e on facebook that said ''OMG I SAW OBAMA IN REAL LIFE, MY LIFE IS COMPLETE'' Wasn't sarcasm either... now thats just embarrassing, now he's a good speaker but he's the same as every other president bar that, he'll say and do whatever the hell he thinks will get him votes and actually being able to deliver on it or not is another matter completely, i think it really says something about people that think he's the dogs bollocks because he's got charisma but don't have a clue about any of his policys or anything... not saying all his policys are particularly bad but most of the people that say ''He's amazing i love him!'' don't have a clue, had an argument with someone i know that think's he's great, when i asked her why he was great the only thing she could come up with was ''He caught osama after only 2 years'' What a plank.

Laisurg

Caoimhín wrote: »

Some of you really need to get laid.

Because we don't like Obama? I disagree with some of his policys and because he's the most powerful man in the world his policys on certain things directly effect other countrys views, that entitles me to dislike him.

Seachmall

He's charismatic, that's all it is. He can win people over with two lines and a smile.

If you asked 99% of the people screaming for him yesterday what they thought of him as a president you would have heard "CHANGE!" and "FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT!" inbetween a random assortment of words and orgasms as they try to convey just how good a president he really is. If you asked the same people about any of his political stances or what changes has he made you would get dumbfounded morons drooling on your shoes.

Of course it's nice to have a good relationship with the US but all the fawning over Obama as a celebrity (as opposed to a politician) is just as idiotic as fawning over Paris Hilton or any of the other non-celebrity celebrities.

MGMTea

Laisurg wrote: »

I agree 100% i cringed at the way people were going on about it... honestly why the fúck would you care? Read a status from some gob****e on facebook that said ''OMG I SAW OBAMA IN REAL LIFE, MY LIFE IS COMPLETE'' Wasn't sarcasm either... now thats just embarrassing, now he's a good speaker but he's the same as every other president bar that, he'll say and do whatever the hell he thinks will get him votes and actually being able to deliver on it or not is another matter completely, i think it really says something about people that think he's the dogs bollocks because he's got charisma but don't have a clue about any of his policys or anything... not saying all his policys are particularly bad but most of the people that say ''He's amazing i love him!'' don't have a clue, had an argument with someone i know that think's he's great, when i asked her why he was great the only thing she could come up with was ''He caught osama after only 2 years'' What a plank.

haha ok http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc301/Anathema1917/cool-story-bro.jpg

syklops

Laisurg wrote: »

Because we don't like Obama? I disagree with some of his policys and because he's the most powerful man in the world his policys on certain things directly effect other countrys views, that entitles me to dislike him.

I dont think he was talking about you.

There is nothing wrong with not liking him, and there is nothing wrong with saying you dont give a sh1t either way. But saying you feel physically sick at seeing the coverage of him on TV, and then writing about it on an Internet forum suggests either there is something missing from your life or not all your dogs are barking.

Laisurg

syklops wrote: »

I dont think he was talking about you.

There is nothing wrong with not liking him, and there is nothing wrong with saying you dont give a sh1t either way. But saying you feel physically sick at seeing the coverage of him on TV, and then writing about it on an Internet forum suggests either there is something missing from your life or not all your dogs are barking.

I wouldn't go as far to say i felt sick watching it :P however i just though it was a little embarrassing that so many people turned up and were making such a big deal.

syklops

Laisurg wrote: »

I wouldn't go as far to say i felt sick watching it :P however i just though it was a little embarrassing that so many people turned up and were making such a big deal.

Thats why I said I dont think he was refferring to you.

hsbc

skelliser wrote: »

i agree.

Bar the colour of his skin the man has done absolutly nothing to warrant the attention he gets.

Besides becoming the President of the US... well played.

Seachmall

hsbc wrote: »

Besides becoming the President of the US... well played.

And what has he done as president? Just becoming president doesn't really warrant the love people seem to have for him, do you think Bush would've gotten the same response?

People argue he's a great president when they don't know anything about his presidency. They love him as a celebrity, they just won't admit it.

hsbc

Seachmall wrote: »

And what has he done as president? Just becoming president doesn't really warrant the love people seem to have for him, do you think Bush would've gotten the same response?

People argue he's a great president when they don't know anything about his presidency. They love him as a celebrity, they just won't admit it.

My point was that he doesn't get the attention because of the colour of his skin - he gets the attention because he is the President of the US - and the fact that he is a nice guy is a bonus. I don't think Bush would have had 25k people of the streets of Dublin but he'd definitely get a crowd.

Freddie59

guitarzero wrote: »

In case you havent seen reeling in the years, there is nothing the Irish do better than to all crowd around a high status politician, smiling and cheering in a such a worshipping, "we are not worthy" manner. It adds a bit of theater to their crappy, bland filled lives.

Wow. That almost borders on 'racism'. Imagine if someone said that about another country on here.:rolleyes: Don't know if you're Irish or not, but hey - my life is far from bland. And it was good to see Barack here yesterday.

If you ARE Irish then you could possibly be one of the grumblers, an indigenous group who, in perpetuity, spend their lives moaning. Life's just too short!

Freddie59

FirstHundred wrote: »

If you were an AFPAK shepherd who lost his family to a Predator drone you might have a different opinion.

Damn those big bad Yanks. Imagine - only for them you'd have a lot more to be worried about than a drone taking out some scumbags.:rolleyes:

Freddie59

Seloth wrote: »

Its embarrassing and truly laughable.My mother was excited to see him on the television and I couldnt care less about him being in Offaly but truth be told if you or I or any of us where there I'm sure we'd be the same.

I can remember once when went to a gig with a few friends and when we were walking back to the que from a shop we spotted some of the band members who noticed we had seen them.Now they got a bit unease looking and two of my friends ran wanted to run over to them and did but I could see they really didnt want some annoying young fans runing over so I didnt bother.Needless to say the two lads ran over and said "Your -Insert band name-" to which they replied "Yup" and continued on :pac:

It's called being young - and enjoying yourself.

_feedback_

He's the President of the USA. He is / will be a historical figure. The name Barack Obama will be a massive name in history.

I think anyone that can take negatives from a speech / occasion like that, needs to take a look at themselves rather than the people lining the streets yesterday.

professore

I thought he gave a lot of people a much needed boost.

Let's all go back to telling each other how bad things are and wait for someone else to solve it. Whatever hope we have of getting out of this mess by getting off our arses and doing something positive we have no hope if we keep up this moaning crap.

Oh and those who say he's done nothing to deserve it, he certainly has done a damn sight more than George W who started two wars and damn near bankrupted the world let alone the US.

Freddie59

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Reminds me of the worship of that slimeball Bill Clinton when he came to visit, he was treated as if he was a living saint. Made me want to vomit at the time.

I think most Irish people are pathetic by nature, when I saw that tool Enda Kenny scream "He is the American dream." I felt my lunch move slightly upwards.. A phoney worshipping a phoney.

Ireland is a parody of itself, a freakshow.

WTF?:eek: Are you serious? That is - without exception - the most depressing and offensive post I've seen in a while. Some of us are great at knocking our own. Think before you do it. There's enough in the world who will do it for you.

Are YOU Irish? Do you consider YOURSELF to be pathetic?

professore

Seachmall wrote: »

He's charismatic, that's all it is. He can win people over with two lines and a smile.

If you asked 99% of the people screaming for him yesterday what they thought of him as a president you would have heard "CHANGE!" and "FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT!" inbetween a random assortment of words and orgasms as they try to convey just how good a president he really is. If you asked the same people about any of his political stances or what changes has he made you would get dumbfounded morons drooling on your shoes.

Of course it's nice to have a good relationship with the US but all the fawning over Obama as a celebrity (as opposed to a politician) is just as idiotic as fawning over Paris Hilton or any of the other non-celebrity celebrities.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/top-20-achievements-of-president-obama