March 17, 2009 7:30 PM
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Day 57: Obama Celebrates St. Patrick's Day
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The president discussed his Irish ancestry and met with Irish Prime Minister on a day when the White House fountains ran green.
"We may be cousins," the president told Irish leader Brian Cowen. "We haven't sorted that through yet."
He lauded the meeting between the two as "affirmation between one of the strongest bonds between peoples that exists in the world."
In other Ireland-related news, the president tapped Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney as U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
Amidst the celebration, however, populist anger hung over the administration. Reporters grilled White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the administration's handling of AIG bonuses. The questioning on the bonuses was so stiff that Gibbs jokingly compared his treatment from reporters to torture.
The president did discuss the country's financial situation in brief remarks this morning in which he took on those who question his ambitious $3.6 trillion budget plan.
"I didn't come here to pass on our problems to the next president or the next generation -- I came here to solve them," he said.
Below, check out Chip Reid's CBS Evening News report on the president's day.
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Brian Montopoli Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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