and kenny g. went to a congressman who said, "well, you know, i do believe in the arts, but i'm just not going to vote for the n.e.a." and kenny looked right at him and said, "well, that's not very courageous, is it?" it's terrific. i have to believe that taking the job on at the national endowment for the arts required a couple of strong personality traits. one would be confidence; another would be courage. and as i look through the book, i looked for examples of those traits popping up early in your career. and the one event that you really only devote about a paragraph to-- but i was sort of stunned by your courage--was, you're at the white house; and you look across the room, and you see someone you decide you want to dance with. and you approached. [laughs] fred astaire. i asked fred astaire to dance. it's incredible courage. and what happened then? i don't think it takes a lot of courage. it just takes chutzpah. i--he turned me down. but the good thing was that shortly thereafter, the presid

g-8 summit in europe. the first stop was dublin. irish prime minister kenny greeted the president and the first lady.sident obama and his entourage then traveled by motorcade the 87 miles to moneygall, to visit a distant relative of five generations ago, his great, great, great- grandfather. his name was -- kearny. in moneygall, obama tried his own hand at rhythms, coupled are three words of authentic gaelic. >> remember that whatever hardships the winter may bring, springme is always jt around the corner. if they they keep arguing with you, just respond with the simple creed -- yes, we can! >> question, will were there compelling reasons for the state visit to the irish people? or was this mostly a campaign event, pat? >> look, i think it was terrific. the irish are one of few people on this earth that really like americans. he goes over there, he's got ancestors there, jack kennedy it did it, other presidents have gone there. it's'sa terrific thing. ireland has some problems, as you know. it's one of the countries that has some real debt problems. i think it's terrific and it's a good way to begin