As the plane touched down in Dublin, the US President's political opponents were joking about 'Barry O'Bama' playing up his long lost Irish ancestry for the sake of 40 million Irish-American voters back home. Later this week, the President (real name Barack Obama) will visit Poland, which is also the country of origin for a large number of Americans. He needs the backing of as many as possible when he seeks re-election next year.
Obama visit marks possible diplomatic shift
As the plane touched down in Dublin, the US President's political opponents were joking about 'Barry O'Bama' playing up his long lost Irish ancestry for the sake of 40 million Irish-American voters back home. Later this week, the President (real name Barack Obama) will visit Poland, which is also the country of origin for a large number of Americans. He needs the backing of as many as possible when he seeks re-election next year.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper">Q & A</h2>
But the President's visit to Europe, which also includes two days in the UK as the guest of the Queen, is about far more than long-distance electioneering. It is interesting for both his fans and detractors as they seek to analyse the sympathies of the most powerful man in the world.
On election in 2008, it was clear the first Black man in the White House had a very different world view to his predecessors: with a Kenyan father, and a childhood spent in Hawaii and Indonesia, Obama was instinctively more drawn to the issues facing Africa, Asia and the Pacific. China's rising economic power and terrorist problems in Pakistan also kept his focus on those parts of the world.
But now the European nations, traditionally the USA's closest allies, seem to have swung back into his view.
The fun and the razzmatazz attending the visit this week is partly designed to cement a set of relationships that have been less carefully tended than by previous American heads of state.
This is partly because of the Middle East. Last week Obama laid out his ideas for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, in which then EU is involved, and pledged support for Arab democracy movements. On these issues, Obama finds that the old allegiances with the EU and NATO may be more important and useful than he thought.
Past and future
At home in the States, Obama's family tree, with its mix of nationalities, has been a matter of intense interest to his enemies. Some, known as 'Birthers' have gone as far as claiming he was not born in the US and can't be President. In April the White House decided to end the speculation by publishing his birth certificate, but even that hasn't worked - the campaigners say it was a fake.
But for the rest of us, Obama's family links, and the way his world view is changing, are important as clues about which way America will lean when it comes to big decisions on trade, aid, peace initiatives and even future wars.
So the US alliance with Europe is just about what's useful to America? No, the two sides of the Atlantic have a long history, from the first English exiles founding a colony on the East Coast, to the waves of immigration from every country in Europe to America in search of a new life in 'the land of opportunity'. The family ties remain: British people often say 'our American cousins'.
So it's emotional, then? Well, no, and this is what seems to be behind Obama's change of emphasis. The US and much of Europe have a formal military alliance in NATO, which gives both sides a security guarantee: if one is attacked, all will defend. European leaders took the lead in pushing for an intervention against Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.
OK so it's about diplomacy and war? And money. It's true that China is now the world's second largest economy, and Obama has a close eye on competition from Asia. But the EU's business links with the US amount to 40% of all world trade.
Obama visit marks possible diplomatic shift
