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Leo Varadkar's Clinton gaffe adds awkwardness to the shamroguery for the US visit

Awkwardness and a bit of shamroguery feature during Oval Office visit

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meets President Joe Biden at the White House. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 17: (L-R) U.S. President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar depart the U.S. Capitol following the Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2023 in Washington, DC. Biden joined Varadkar and members of Congress for the traditional St. Patrick's Day Friends of Ireland Luncheon. The Friends of Ireland caucus was founded in 1981 by the late Irish-American politicians Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) and former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D-MA). (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Niall Horan performs at a shamrock presentation and reception in the East Room of the White House. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaking at the annual "Friends of Ireland Luncheon" on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, during Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Picture date: Friday March 17, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH US. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meets President Joe Biden at the White House. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 17: (L-R) U.S. President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar depart the U.S. Capitol following the Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2023 in Washington, DC. Biden joined Varadkar and members of Congress for the traditional St. Patrick's Day Friends of Ireland Luncheon. The Friends of Ireland caucus was founded in 1981 by the late Irish-American politicians Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) and former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D-MA). (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Niall Horan performs at a shamrock presentation and reception in the East Room of the White House. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaking at the annual "Friends of Ireland Luncheon" on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, during Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Picture date: Friday March 17, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH US. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meets President Joe Biden at the White House. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

Senan Molony

March 18 2023 02:30 AM

Call it the Revenge of the Interns. When Leo Varadkar and a mumbling Joe Biden had finished their brief remarks in the Oval Office, several young staffers sent up an Animal Farm-style chant: “Thank you, Press! Thank you, Press!”

A howl of questions went up in protest, journalists all shouting at once in a babble of noise, the two leaders looking bemused beneath a formal portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, the frailest president before Uncle Joe.

Biden looked curiously listless, the Taoiseach wide-eyed with disappointment, because he had been hoping for some sunny remarks about a return to the land of his fathers from the paternal president – if only to distract from his gaffe about being an intern when Bill Clinton was president.

So many family relatives – and they aren’t in jail

Leo must have wondered whether he was being somehow punished on a rainy day in Washington when the shamrock in the president’s lapel spoke more about his Irish heritage than he did.

A roaring log fire in the background did its best to emulate Joe’s ancestors’ little cabin or shieling, whether in rural Louth or down a boreen in Ballina. But it was surrounded by Carrera marble, which somewhat spoiled the illusion.

Outside, as he prepared to dash away to the Speaker’s lunch, the Taoiseach said the ritual empty things about the points he had made and how he had been impressed by the president being across so many Irish issues.

It all felt slightly ersatz, like the shamroguery of so many US politicians pretending to be Irish for the day.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaking at the Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, yesterday. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

“What were you thinking when you made that remark about interns?” asked the Irish Independent, and Mr Varadkar looked momentarily startled and nonplussed, as if being asked to apologise to Monica Lewinsky. But then he simply thanked everyone and started for his car.

The gaffe has gone mainstream in British newspapers, but has made remarkably little impact stateside.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy cannot have been aware of it when he regaled the lunch in the Capitol with the news Varadkar had once been an intern.

“This is not a foreign land to you,” McCarthy said. “You served here as a staffer.”

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A quick check on the Taoiseach’s expression showed an impassive mask. Nor was there any sign McCarthy was having a subtle pop. No, that is Leo’s very own tendency, which often goes awry.

Niall Horan performs at a shamrock presentation and reception in the East Room of the White House. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

However, Leo’s accidental insult to Bill and Hillary Clinton – who are both in Ireland next month – had been the discreet talk at the embassy reception to mark St Patrick’s Day the previous night.

People whispered and chortled in clumps, with the unionists forming their own North East corner in the garden of the palatial residence.

It led into a long day yesterday, capped by an evening’s entertainment at the White House, where Niall Horan was in attendance.

The president said last night he was rooting for Ireland in today’s Grand Slam at the Aviva Stadium.

He said at a gala in the East Room of the White House: “My distant Irish cousins here today including the well known Irish rugby player Rob Kearney.” He made him stand to be recognised.

Joe Biden's fifth cousin Rob Kearney

The president added: “And we know — this is no offence to anyone else in the room — who we are rooting for the Grand Slam.” The crowd cheered and clapped in response.

The Oval Office chaos earlier was followed by the Speaker’s lunch, where there was another loud noise as a photographer’s perch collapsed beneath him. Joe glanced over from his podium with basilisk eyes: “Stay with us. We need you, man.”

Finally, he was talking, mentioning his Blewitt and Finnegan relatives in Mayo and Louth respectively, and reminiscing about how former Taoiseach Enda Kenny had begged President Barack Obama, when Joe was VP, to let him “come on home”.

He was assured of a hundred thousand welcomes, he said, and then he asked the Taoiseach what the Irish was for that. Again the Taoiseach was thrown, and there was no sign the president was being mischievous – he had just heard the Taoiseach speaking Irish in the Oval Office an hour-and-a-half earlier.

In fact, Mr Varadkar has been practising the teanga, speaking Irish one day a week at home.

The Taoiseach had to be prompted, as if he were an intern again, but then supplied the sought “céad míle fáilte”.

The whole audience seemed perplexed when the president launched into a long and rambling recollection of his Grandpop’s kitchen table

Joe nodded, and said he was looking forward to “a great experience” in Ireland next month and to meeting “so many family relatives – and they aren’t in jail”.

Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris looked a little perplexed at this trademark Biden malarkey, but not as perplexed as the whole audience when the president launched into a long and rambling recollection of his Grandpop’s kitchen table.

There seemed to be no point to it, unless it was the deepest subtlety about the DUP needing to sit down at meal times with its brother and sister parties to break bread.

“It’s all about hope,” the president said.

Thankfully, Hope isn’t another wide-eyed intern, just a quality that belongs to the younger generation, who aren’t taking it any more.

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