Before Take Off
I am sitting in Dulles airport waiting for my flight to be called, trying to summon up my thoughts about the week in Washington. We've carried the orthodox coverage on our airwaves throughout the last few days so here are a few heretical thoughts.
1. Are we second class citizens? The First and Deputy First Ministers were happy about the reception they got in the White House, but there is still a tension between the shamrock sentiment, the Irish government's desire to retain the monopoly on this vital plank in its bilateral relationship with the USA and the Northern Ireland politics which has been grafted on to St Patrick's Day, especially since the 1990s.
That helps explain why the Irish Prime Minister was the guest of honour at a series of occasions immortalised on film, whilst Northern Ireland's top two had to settle for a still photo of their encounter. The logic is that they are merely leaders of a regional executive, not the leader of a sovereign government. Nevertheless in recent years Northern Ireland has tended to provide the strongest policy and story line of the week, and this was no exception. Maybe it's tradition to restrict access to a brief meeting and a still photo, but wasn't the Obama administration meant to be all about change?
2. Why are Irish Americans so special? In New York Brian Cowen announced a review of US-Irish relations. Perhaps in the hope of reciprocation in easing visas for Irish citizens, one proposal is that Irish Americans with a great grandparent should be eligible for naturalisation. Previously you had to have a grandparent.
But if this is the case with Irish Americans, what about Irish Australians or Irish (perish the thought) English? I'm not planning to apply for a green passport anytime soon. But I'd hate to think that my great grandparents, who emigrated to work in the coal mines of Durham and the linen mills of Lancashire, were any less Irish than those who decided to seek their fortune on the other side of the Atlantic.
3. Here's another heresy - does any of the Presidential rhetoric delivered to green champagne imbibers matter? Of course, continued economic and political support is welcome, but as I listened to the speeches inside the White House (although sadly not the Taoiseach's gaffe) I kept thinking of the teenagers who complained about "police harassment" at the question and answer session with MLAs which I chaired last week. If you want to maintain stability, they remain a more important audience to communicate with than the great and the good in D.C.
Before leaving for the airport, I squeezed in a visit to the Newseum near the National Mall in Washington. Last year when covering a visit by Ian Paisley, I spotted a flyer for the Newseum, which had just opened, but didn't have time to visit. I mentioned to a colleague that I thought Belfast might be a good place to have some kind of museum or centre dedicated to journalism, and he quipped "so you want to be stuffed and mounted".
This time I decided to call in to see what the was like. A few days ago I wrote about the moving experience of visiting St Paul's chapel at Ground Zero. That was small, real and charitable in purpose. By contrast the Newseum is big, artificial and commercial.
If that seems damning, I don't mean it to be. Many of the exhibits in the Newseum are fascinating, but have had to be transplanted from far away, be they a chunk of the Berlin Wall, a bit of the shattered broadcast mast which used to sit on top of the World Trade Centre, or the Unabomber's cabin.
I noticed three glancing references to Northern Ireland. There's a "Tony Blair" sound bite and an image of the Good Friday Agreement in an introductory film which explains that news can be about war or about peace. James "Whitey" Bulger, the Boston gangster who was mixed up with the IRA, features as part of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" in an exhibit on "Journalists and the G Men". And Martin O'Hagan of the Sunday World is one of scores of names engraved on a memorial to journalists killed as they tried to do their job. In addition the collection of that morning's front pages around the world included a copy of the "Irish Independent" which covered the Taoiseach's White House stumble and a picture of Joely Richardson visiting the Manhattan hospital where her sister was pronounced dead.
Some aspects of the Newseum made me uneasy. Focussing in on journalists sits uncomfortably alongside the conviction of most of my colleagues that stories should be about those who make them, not about those who report them. But on the plus side the artifice provides a handy prism through which to present modern history, plenty of scope for interactive and video exhibits and the chance for kids to have a bit of fun, playing at becoming TV reporters.
I think Michael Bloomberg part owns the Newseum, and I well remember him telling the US Investment conference in Stormont last year that for a modern city to attract business it has to provide a good quality of life including cultural diversions.
It would be crazy to think Belfast could sustain anything on the scale of the Newseum, but we are the home of the oldest daily newspaper, the News Letter, which was the first to report the US Declaration of Independence on this side of the Atlantic. The media did play a crucial role during the troubles, and grappled with editorial dilemmas over dealing with paramilitaries and Mrs Thatcher's broadcasting ban. And we are now adapting (we hope) to changing times. Anyone who has seen John Harrison's exhibition of news photographs could appreciate the potential (and John now has a photo of Messrs Obama, Robinson and McGuinness to add to his collection).
If you are wondering why I am being so long winded, it's because I shan't be blogging for a few days. After getting back I have to get a Radio 4 documentary ready in time for its scheduled transmission at 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning. It's about the attempt to export Northern Ireland's experience in conflict resolution to Iraq and the Middle East.
In my absence Martina Purdy is taking over Inside Politics. Her guest will be David Ford, ahead of the Alliance's conference. That's on Radio Ulster as usual at 12.45pm on Saturday.
I'm 
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