"Tell us how I can help. . . This Administration will work for Ireland." The words are those, I am reliably assured, of Tommy Thompson, the new US Secretary for Health and Human Services, to Brian Cowen when they met on Wednesday.
One of those President George Bush plucked from the ranks of governors to be the backbone of his cabinet, Wisconsin's down to earth, controversial welfare reformer, Thompson is proud of his Irish stock and not afraid to fight the old sod's corner. A friend at court.
And then there was the President's National Security Adviser, Dr Condoleezza Rice, whose public declarations on Ireland would fill a postage stamp. But to Mr Cowen's evident delight Dr Rice was not only well-informed but enthusiastic about continuing engagement with the peace process, an enthusiasm, she said was shared by her boss.
Mr Cowen also saw Vice President Cheney, the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and a wide range of congressional figures interested in the North. Everywhere the message was the same: the President is interested, and the substance of policy remains unchanged.
Even Senator Ted Kennedy, no fan, was reportedly upbeat about the continued engagement of the US.
That reality was also reflected in a longer than expected discussion on the peace process between Mr Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, whose evident surprise at his host's interest was reflected in the somewhat clumsy, almost offensive, response to Mr Bush's offer to help. That was jolly decent, Mr Blair said, but he wasn't sure he could think of any circumstance in which he would ring to ask for that help. Perhaps someone else will make the call.
Mr Bush seems genuinely intrigued by the success his predecessor made of his intervention and is being reminded regularly by Irish-Americans in his own party that there is here a constituency of 44 million that is ripe for the plucking. Conservative, wealthy, anti-abortion, pro-family. . . Whether they can be rallied to the Republican banner by an activist Irish policy is another matter.
Congressman Peter King has long been known as one of the house's strongest supporters of Ireland and of the nationalist cause. Today he is part of the bipartisan consensus that supports the peace process and, although a Republican, is willing to applaud President Clinton's role. That legacy he believes is still indelibly in place, although the style will be different.
"Clinton institutionalised Irish policy," he argues. "It is no longer seen strictly as an internal matter for Britain." He points to President Bush's repeated tributes to Clinton's role on the North during the campaign. Give it time, he says. The new administration like the last must find its feet, put its people into place and find its own modus operandi. When the President becomes involved directly it will be because he can make a difference then, he believes.
And do not be confused by differences of style, he argues, dismissing as absurd the idea that the abandonment of the St Patrick's Day White House party marks a u-turn in policy. Democrats agree. One congressional aide with long involvement in Irish issues says simply that the Bush White House cannot be expected to mimic Clinton's.
Although Congressman Joe Crowley from New York has tried to score political points against the Republicans over the party's cancellation, his broadside had little sympathy from the more active Irish-American Democrats who relish the bipartisanship of Irish issues in Congress.
Congressman Richard Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts, says to see things in those terms, in terms of "festivities and holiday celebrations" is to profoundly misunderstand the nature of US engagement, "when the truth is that the hard work is done day in day out". He has lobbied Andrew Card, the president's chief of staff and a man steeped in Massachusetts politics, on the issue. Another friend at court, he says. Brian Cowen has every reason to feel just a little bit pleased by what he will be reporting back to Bertie.
