Hannah shows Obama the audacity of hope

It’s not everyday you nearly upstage the most powerful man in the world.

But it was all in a week’s work for a shy teenage girl who captured the public imagination with her speech welcoming the US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to her hometown.

“Good morning. My name is Hannah Nelson, I’m 16 years old, and I’m from Belfast,” she told 2,000 invited guests at the city’s landmark Waterfront Hall. “I’ve been thinking about an important question. How do you make peace permanent in Northern Ireland?”