(CNN) – On one of her last official foreign trips as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton emphasized her support of the embattled UN Ambassador Susan Rice and brushed off speculation about her and her husband former President Bill Clinton's future plans.
Republican criticism of Rice following the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead has complicated the possibility President Barack Obama might nominate her to replace Clinton as secretary of state. At issue are talking points Rice conveyed on the Sunday public affairs television shows following the attack which did not label the assault a deliberate act by terrorists. Critics have said she knowingly misled the public while Rice and the White House maintain she made clear the information provided was based on the best intelligence available at the time.
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(CNN) - While receiving a formal certificate of Irish heritage at a St. Patrick's Day celebration on Tuesday, President Barack Obama didn't miss a beat in taking a jab at the so-called "birther" movement.
"This will have a special place of honor alongside my birth certificate," he joked, to great laughter.
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Dublin, Ireland (CNN) - President Barack Obama met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in Ireland on Monday on the first stop of a six-day, four-country European tour.
Obama praised Ireland for its work on issues of peace, security and human rights. In a meeting with Kenny, Obama cited Ireland's contribution in particular to an agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland.
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Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama marked St. Patrick's Day Wednesday by welcoming the Irish prime minister to the White House.
The president, who wore a light green necktie for the occasion, noted the numerous contributions made by Irish Americans to the development of the United States. He also thanked the government in Dublin for its work in promoting the peace process in Northern Ireland, as well as its cooperation on issues tied to the push for greater global economic stability.
"Thirty-six million Americans claim Irish ancestry," Obama said. "I'm sure more do on St. Patrick's Day. And it's a testament I think to how close our two countries are that America has been shaped culturally, politically, economically, by the incredible contributions of Irish-Americans. Those bonds endure."
In an apparent allusion to the acrimonious health care debate on Capitol Hill, Prime Minister Brian Cowen joked that he had decided to come to Washington during a quiet week. He also thanked Obama for his leadership, calling him the leader of the free world.
The two men were later hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a luncheon on Capitol Hill.
(CNN) - It was a balmy March day in Washington as the Irish ambassador to the U.S. headed to the White House. He carried a small gift for the president: a box of Irish shamrock, in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
The year was 1952. The president, Harry Truman, was out of town. So the ambassador, John Joseph Hearne, dropped off the shamrock and went on his way.
Such was the inauspicious inception of what's become a perennial event: the St. Patrick's Day shamrock ceremony, in which the U.S. president receives a cluster of Ireland's most famous greenery on the feast day of Ireland's patron saint.
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