Mar 10, 2009 7:44 pm US/Eastern
Rooney Rumored To Become Ambassador To Ireland
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
-
-
Barack Obama received support from Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney while on the campaign trail. (File)
KDKA
Rumors are swirling that the man most identified with the Pittsburgh Steelers is about to be named Ambassador to Ireland.
Dan Rooney has had a long interest in the land of his grandparents and this appointment would cap it off.
Even before Barack Obama was sworn in as president, KDKA-TV Political Editor Jon Delano reported that Rooney was a possible candidate to be Ambassador to Ireland.
Now just days before St. Patrick's Day, a time when such appointments are often announced, the unofficial word out of Washington is the man whose team won the Super Bowl could himself be a winner again.
"I think Mr. Rooney is going to be asked. I think he's going to be the first. I think they're going to ask him first," says Jim Lamb, president of the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh.
Lamb says Rooney is at the top of a short list to be Ambassador to Ireland, and he expects an announcement within days.
Congressional insiders agree.
"There's a strong belief down here that Dan is going to get the appointment," says U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pittsburgh Democrat of Irish descent. "Nothing official."
Doyle says he and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey lobbied the president when they watched the Super Bowl at the White House and Rooney is being vetted -- or checked out -- by the FBI right now.
"It's our understanding that he is being vetted," says Doyle. "We're not aware of other people being vetted at this time."
Rooney will be in Washington to get a lifetime achievement award from the American Ireland fund on Monday and then to attend the White House reception with the Prime Minister of Ireland.
"Mr. Rooney has been involved in causes for Ireland -- north and south - for decades. He was going into Northern Ireland trying to bring reconciliation and trying to bring the people from the two communities together long before anyone else that I can think of," Lamb said.
Rooney is saying nothing now, but when KDKA's Jon Delano talked to him on January 17 he said he'd do whatever the president asked.
Delano: "Would you like to be Ambassador to Ireland?"
Rooney: "It would be interesting. It would be interesting, I must admit."
Delano: "You have all the right credentials."
"I have the credentials. There's no doubt about that," Rooney said while laughing.
The White House is mum on whether an Ambassador to Ireland will be named next week or whether it's Dan Rooney.
There are other names on the short list, and nothing is a done deal until the president says so.
But a growing number of both Washington insiders and the Irish media think Dan Rooney, a man who bucked his own family and the local political establishment to endorse Barack Obama last April, just might get the nod.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments