Good morning from America. Rest assured that the country continues to run without our president though we don't get to bid him bon voyage very often.
George W Bush doesn't travel out of country that much and you'll immediately get the feeling that he's not going to hang around your neck of the woods for very long.
He won't. This is a man who plays 18 holes of golf in the time it takes most of you to watch Coronation Street.
I exaggerate... but only a little.
The announcement last Friday that Bush would fly to Northern Ireland to meet his chief partner in the war against Saddam Hussein came out of the blue.
And it was the first time Northern Ireland got a mention on the likes of CNN in ages. The crawl at the bottom of the television screen on Friday morning informed viewers that Bush and Tony Blair would discuss Iraq, the Middle East and 'N Ireland'. The north and its peace process has been running a solid third in all reports on the visit since.
A bronze medal is better than nothing though the Bush people would do well to make sure that their man says the right things about Ireland and in an appropriate amount.
Irish Americans would certainly respond well to the attention, and the president's hosts, that being all of you, doubtless feel the same way. A third place will do so long as it's not too distant.
Failure to properly address the peace process could be seen as rudeness and a lost opportunity.
The Bush White House had let it be known over a year ago that a visit to Ireland was on the cards. But the matter drifted for months, so much so that many felt that a visit would probably not come until 2004 and then purely in the context of the presidential election campaign.
Circumstances have dictated otherwise.
Though the context of the visit covers more than just the peace process, the few hours that Bush will spend in Northern Ireland will be seen by his more vociferous Irish American supporters as a sure sign that the White House continues to see peace on the island of Ireland as a foreign policy priority.
It would be fair to say that some Bush backers were getting a little worried that another summer would come with the president confining himself to fishing with his dad in Maine and clearing scrub on the Crawford ranch.
Irish American Republicans – in the US political sense of the term – were quick to hail Bush's transatlantic foray as proof positive that their man was every bit as interested in Ireland as his predecessor Bill Clinton.
The timing of the visit carries a particular resonance because of the calendar. April features several important anniversaries, not least the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
It was also the month that spawned Bill Clinton's interest in the search for peace.
It was exactly 11 years ago that Clinton answered a series of questions at an Irish American presidential forum in New York that would fundamentally change the way the US viewed Ireland and the troubles. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton alluded to this over the weekend at another forum on Northern Ireland organised on Long Island, just outside New York City, by an Irish American lawyers group, the Brehon Law Society.
The round-table discussion had been put together in advance of the announcement that President Bush would be crossing the Atlantic. It featured Rodham Clinton and Congressmen Peter King and Joe Crowley, both co-chairmen of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee for Irish Affairs. Also present to speak was a member of the Irish Senate, Timothy Dooley of Fianna Fail.
Not surprisingly, the politicians addressed this week's expected developments in the peace process in detail, specifically the issues addressed in the acts of completion – policing, decommissioning and demilitarisation and so forth. They also looked ahead to the Bush visit. Senator Clinton hoped that it would help put a final seal of approval on the peace process.
While the Irish trip was clearly to do mainly with Iraq, Clinton hoped that the peace process and Good Friday Agreement would receive due recognition from a president who has been inclined for the most part to leave Irish policy in the hands of his State Department.
Comparisons between presidents Clinton and Bush will be inevitable during today's (Tuesday) events. Clinton, of course, was able to focus solely on local issues during his Irish sojourns.
Bush has no such luxury, even though the war in Iraq would now appear to be on the down slope.
Much has been written here lately, in various magazine articles and a couple of new books, about how Bush's mind works when he takes a look at the world around him.
It would be fair to say that there is a growing sense that the man has been underestimated by many people, not least Saddam Hussein.
Bush has set a high bar for himself. He has relegated the United Nations to the second tier and has created a precedent for war in a nervous world.
All his stated reasons for invading Iraq could be applied to several other countries, not least North Korea and Iran.
Bush will, of course, speak about peace in Ireland during his brief stay on Irish soil. But he might yet have to return in the context of the 2004 contest. Irish American votes are going to be crucial to him, especially in north-eastern industrial states.
Irish Americans concerned about peace in Ireland will take the bronze medal in the present context.
But if things settle down in Iraq and the Middle East, they will want their share of the gold medal treatment. Today's foray will merely whet their collective appetite.
