"He's the first president I've seen drink the black stuff like he's not ashamed of something."

[ClarkUSA]

The photos in this article are worth a peek. President O'Bama sure looked like he enjoyed his pint!

DUBLIN — Downing a Guinness is a rite of passage for any visitor to Ireland, but too often the VIPs, including some U.S. presidents, disappoint the Emerald Isle. Not President Barack Obama... he didn't hesitate Monday when offered a pint of the dark brew. Obama downed it in four slurps and won cheers across Ireland for it.

"The president actually killed his pint! He gets my vote," said Christy O'Sullivan, a government clerical worker who was taking a long lunch break to watch live TV coverage of Obama's visit to Moneygall, the tiny village where his maternal great-great-great grandfather lived and worked. "He's the first president I've actually seen drink the black stuff like he's not ashamed of something."

Previous American presidents didn't fare as well as Obama. In 1984, Ronald Reagan rejected the Guinness and instead posed for photographers with a pint of Smithwicks, a locally brewed red ale. He didn't finish it. In 2006, George W. Bush, a recovering alcoholic who drinks non-alcoholic beer, wasn't asked to pose with a pint of Guinness at all.

Many expected more from Bill Clinton, but ended up deeply disappointed. In 1995, Clinton stopped at a Dublin pub bearing his family's Irish name of Cassidy but barely sipped his stout. Aides said he didn't want to be photographed drinking anything alcoholic, but the resultant image was hardly an endorsement of the product. Clinton had abandoned his almost full half-pint.

But on Monday, an American president finally savored his pint the way a local expects. Audiences watching the moment — deliciously drawn out by Obama for close to a minute — shouted encouragement at their TVs and cheered as he took a hearty swallow and polished it off. Mrs. Obama drank her half-pint, then got behind the bar herself and pulled two pints.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/white-house-notebook-obama-955278.html

:toast:

[treestar]

1. cool

:toast:

Guess Obama doesn't care about being photographed drinking!

[damntexdem]

2. He stoutly refuses to care about that.

;-)

[msanthrope]

6. He's not one to harp on what silly people have to say....n/t

[rfranklin]

3. Not every president has an alcoholism problem...

That was just something promoted by some Republicans.

[SteveG]

8. Two Alcoholic Presidents in my Lifetime - both Republican

Nixon and Shrub.

[liberal N proud]

4. He really is someone you would like to have a beer with

Remember when they tried to tell us that was what kind of guy the bu$h was?

[louis-t]

5. (sigh) I love Guinness.

"Brilliant!"

fixed my spelling.

[nmbluesky]

7. Obama is a true Irishman

You tell me when it's properly settled, I don't want to mess this up," the president said, as the barkeep poured the Guinness. "I want to get it perfect."

[Historic NY]

9. Its a whole meal in a glass....."mothers milk".

[TexasProgresive]

10. I PMd the GoddessOfGuinness to see what she has to say about it

I have to recuse myself as I am a Murphy's man, Guinness is good in a pinch but keep my pint filled with Murphy's and I'm happy.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Hopefully, he'll sample some other fine brews as well!

:toast:

[Cracklin Charlie]

11. Great moment!

The thing that I most admire in our President is that he doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. Anything.

[JonLP24]

12. Wonderful

that is drug of choice is legal.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. At last! A president we don't need to make excuses for!

Well done, President O'Bama!