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Opinion: Why Obama's visit struck a chord with students.
Being a student in Ireland is rather tough at the minute. The degrees that we have signed up for are devoid of the notions that inspired us to apply for them in the first place. When the CAO forms were filled, they were filled in anticipation. This anticipation was of the chance to try and be that son or daughter who can make a parent swell with pride, whose hard work and dedication results in a career worth having. This career would allow us to reward our parents for their dedication with a pretty flash nursing home or looking after them as they slide down the slope. It was not the most ambitious of dreams but it was a dream nonetheless.
Now, we find ourselves wondering what fleeting sense of our parents our children will have. How will little Teniqua relate to Maureen on her yearly visit to Ireland from the States/Canada/anywhere but here? The question is not ‘if’ we will emigrate but rather ‘when’ and where.’ It’s like being the punchline of a cruel joke made by bankers and property developers.
Our lecturers can only confirm that the mess in which we sink is even deeper than we can fathom. The headlines must be ignored for each new dirge would only make despair seem more reasonable. His message was not revelatory. It was, in actual fact, expected. The rhetoric of the campaign trail is something clasped to their hearts by middle-America. It is something derided by the young and educated. However, in this case, it hit home. He did not give any explanation as to how, unfortunately, but at least he said it like he meant it.
Even when New York Times journalist, Maureen Dowd, pointed out the pandering inherent in the action, it could not kill the mood. We know he was playing to the crowd and that it was an attempt to recreate the frenzy which Bill Clinton managed over here. These things are irrelevant because for even a single moment in 2011, the youth of Ireland felt powerful.
This battered slogan had a poignancy that even Fianna Fáil couldn’t quench. Why? Because we were so desperate to hear it. In the same way that the Pope’s declaration of his love for the young people of Ireland struck a chord, so did Obama’s ‘Is féidir linn.’ Perhaps, it is because our generation are to American media what the previous generation were to mass. Perhaps, his skill as an orator hypnotised us temporarily. It does not matter at the end of the day. His message was clear and we heard him - ‘Is féidir linn.’
By: 321gillian
