February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
And leading the male half of the race this week is triumphant Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney.
Also in the frame is AFL/CIO chief John Sweeney, whose name has surfaced in an Irish Times report.
But Rooney seems to have the edge and while he has not openly embraced the idea of being ambassador, he has not dismissed the idea.
In an interview with Pittsburgh TV station KDKA, a CBS affiliate, Rooney said he was open to the idea of being ambassador if President Barack Obama asked him.
Rooney was a significant Obama backer in the election campaign and his first words when interviewed after his team’s Super Bowl win in Tampa might well have been a message of sorts: “I would like to thank President Barack Obama,” said the 76-year-old businessman.
Rooney is clearly an Obama fan as well as his own team’s number one follower.
“I like him, I know what he’s doing and I want to support him. What I’m talking about is his administration. I’d do anything that he asked,” Rooney told KDKA.
“I did not do this with the idea of getting anything,” Rooney said of his support for Obama.
“I’m not looking for anything. If he thinks I can help him anywhere, if he calls me, obviously, I’m going to say that I’ll do anything I can for you, and I would. It would be an honor to work for him, you know.”
The station reported that Anne Mullin Burnham, founding editor of Diplomatic Dossier Magazine is thinking that would be a terrific choice.
“I think it would be an inspired appointment from the point of view of both countries. Every country that welcomes a U.S. ambassador wants to have somebody with that magic thing called access,” Irish-born Mullin Burnham said.
A Rooney move to the Phoenix Park also won the enthusiastic backing of Jim Lamb, president of the Ireland Institute in Pittsburgh.
“Mr. Rooney has done so much for Ireland that he would be in my estimation the ideal person,” said Lamb of the man who co-founded the American-Ireland Fund.
During the interview, KDKA reporter Jon Delano asked Rooney if he would like to be ambassador to Ireland.
“It would be interesting. It would be interesting, I must admit,” Rooney replied.
“I have the credentials. There’s no doubt about that,” he responded.
The station reported on its website that the Irish Times in Dublin was reporting that Rooney was heading the list to become ambassador to Ireland, “speculation repeated in the Irish Echo.”
John Sweeney’s chances of being ambassador would also be viewed as being strong given AFL/CIO backing for the Obama campaign.
The announcement as to who will succeed former ambassador Thomas Foley is expected around St. Patrick’s Day.