From campaigns to champagne as friends of Obama tie the knot
Saturday July 05 2008
Anne Lucey
THE man who brought them together was unavoidably detained elsewhere.
Barack Obama has the small matter of a US presidential campaign to fight.
Yesterday, a world away in rain-lashed Co Kerry, two of his friends tied the knot.
The wind blew and the rain poured down but it could not spoil a very special Fourth of July for Samantha Power.
Obama's former adviser married Professor Cass Sunstein in Mary Immaculate Church, on the edge of the sea at Loher near Waterville, Co Kerry.
Irish-American academic and writer Samantha (38) arrived for her marriage to the 54-year-old law professor at the church in the parish of Caherdaniel, the home turf of 19th century politician, the Liberator Daniel O'Connell.
The couple met while working on the Obama presidential campaign.
Ms Power arrived on the button of 4.30pm in a champagne coloured Lexus car bedecked with silk roses and hydrangeas driven by her uncle, Garry Horgan, from Cork.
Waiting a respectable five minutes until she got the nod from parish priest Fr Fergal Ryan, Ms Power in her cream all-lace dress and veil resplendent against her red hair, entered the church on the arm of her step-father Edmund Bourke.
She smiled nervously when wished well by friends of her mother.
Inside each seat was decked with white flowers and the hymns included the Cloud's Veil. The Readings were 'To everything there is a season' and St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, on Love.
There were thank-you notes in the wedding leaflet for local organisers and a special word for 18-year-old Ellyn Ruddick-Sunstein the daughter of the groom for providing support and cheer "and for approving".
Prayers of the faithful included one "for the victims of cruelty and injustice, for those who protect wildlife and animals and those who are poor and persecuted".
Ms Power, a former journalist, resigned from the Obama campaign in March after calling Senator Hillary Clinton -- Barack Obama's rival for the democratic nomination -- "a monster" in an interview.
She apologised immediately for the remark which she later explained was made when she lost her temper.
However it is expected, that should Obama win the White House race, she will return to his advice team.
Ms Power was recently presented with an honourary laws degree from University College Cork.
Around 150 guests attended the reception at the Waterville Lake hotel.
- Anne Lucey
