' O'bama' wows 'em on the Ould Sod

The President quaffing a pint at a local.

MONEYGALL, Ireland -- Following the tradition of so many of his predecessors, President Barack Obama today paid a visit to the Irish town from where an ancestor hailed.

In this instance, his great-great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney left this village of 300 or so to seek a better life in America in the mid-1800s.

For those keeping track of such things, Moneygall sits astride the border between Tipperary and Offally counties, between Dublin and Limerick.

During a trip to a local pub, the President downed a Guinness in four gulps, which earned him a round of applause from the locals.

Fittingly, the name Moneygall is derived from the Gaelic phrase muine gall, meaning "foreigners' thicket."

As far back as John F. Kennedy, whose family also came from County Tipperary, U.S. presidents with Irish roots have made the trip. Since then, the list has included Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Before the JFK pilgrimage, other presidents who claimed Irish roots began with George Washington and extended through James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. That is exactly 50% of all presidents.

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