What a night in Downtown St. Louis, Tuesday night;? the Cardinals-Phillies playoff baseball game on end;? a presidential visit about 9 blocks away on the other. ?
President Barack Obama was in town raising money..for his re-election campaign and drawing fire from political opponents about his stops in Missouri.
One political shot from Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus,? was way off target.
It was a very lucrative, private-appearance-only trip for the President. ?
?
He easily raised in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. ?
His appearance at the Renaissance Grand Hotel on Washington Avenue drew about 300 donors.
He let them know right away, he was well aware of the importance in St. Louis of the ballgame down the street at Busch Stadium.
'It`s good to be? back in Missouri,' President Obama said. 'I know that a Cardinals game is going on right now. I see some of you checking your phones for the score.? I`m going to try to be brief and see if? Ican get out of here.? You`ve got the 9th inning coming up.'
Priebus blasted top Missouri Democrats, Governor Jay Nixon, and Senator Claire McCaskill, for not appearing with the President. ?
'With the President's popularity in a ditch, I suppose I would find a way to be too busy too, to be seen with this president, who`s taken our country down the wrong path,' Priebus said. ?
He was dead wrong about Governor Nixon, who not only greeted the President at the airport, but also introduced him to the crowd at the Renaissance. ?
McCaskill issued a statement saying she welcomed the President to St. Louis, albeit regrettably from Washington.? Possible Senate votes and a fundraiser of her own, kept her from being here.
'She hopes she`s able to join him the next time he comes to Missouri,' said the statement from McCaskill spokesman, Trevor Kincaid. ?
About 200 hundred protesters greeted President Obama.? They called themselves, 'Occupy St. Louis', an offshoot of the 'Occupy Wall Street'' that`s been gathering in New York for three weeks, now. ?
The St. Louis group plans to be here for a month.
They urged the President to stand against the impact of wealthy Americans and corporate money on politics.
'I wouldn`t say that he`s let me down necessarily,' demonstrator Sheren Khalel of St. Louis said, regarding the President`s fundraising trip.? 'We expected more though, that`s for sure.? It`s only been 4 years.? He had 8 years of a big mess, $15 trillion in debt.? What can you do ??? I think he`s taking the initiative too late, is what it is.' ?
There was genuine enthusiasm about the visit among 100 or so Obama supporters gathered to get a glimpse of him as he whisked by in his limousine. ?
But the St. Louis stops were precisely the types of things the protesters hoped to end; a source close to the events saying tickets to the Renaissance Grand reception went for $250 to $1000;? an event that followed at the Central West End home of Tom Carnahan, son of the late Missouri Governor, Mel Carnahan, cost attendees a $25,000 for an individual and more than $35,000 for a couple. ?
Priebus blasted the President for that, too.??? ?
'Instead of addressing job creation for Missourians, President Obama seems only interested in using the show-me state as his personal ATM for his campaign coffers,' Priebus said. ?
But the President used to the trip to tell donors to urge Congress to support his $450 billion dollar job creation bill, The American Jobs Act, which called on wealthy Americans to pay more in taxes to help create jobs. ?
'Right now we have millions of construction workers out of work.? Forlks in missouri, folks in St. Louis, who are desperate to get back to work.? The bill says, `why don`t we put those men and women back to work !`' ?
It was a tight, tight schedule;? the President arrived at Lambert around 5:30 p.m.? He was Downtown by 6:00,? left for the Carnahan residence around, 7:30, and was back on Air Force One to leave St. Louis by 9:15. ?
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