President Obama headed home after L.A. visit

President Obama wrapped up his two-day tour of California on Friday morning after flying by helicopter from the Beverly Hills area to LAX -- an attempt to avoid the traffic snarls that angered commuters during a previous trip.

Democratic officials did not reveal the size of Obama's fundraising haul during his Western swing, which included "town hall"-style meetings at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto and at a renewable-energy company in Reno, Nev.

But he attended three fundraisers in the Los Angeles area Thursday -- mingling with Steven Spielberg,  Gov. Jerry Brown and actors George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson at a final private dinner at Tavern in Brentwood.

Tickets to the three events ranged from $100 to the maximum legal limit of $35,800. Proceeds will be split between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

The president was interrupted at a San Francisco fundraiser Thursday morning by protesters, who sang a song criticizing the treatment of a soldier who has been accused of giving classified information to the WikiLeaks website.

Protesters also gathered along the presidential motorcade's route to a rally Thursday in Culver City, but the president was met by an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,500 who gathered at a sound stage on the Sony Studios lot.

The visit was intended, in part, to stir enthusiasm among contributors and volunteers who fueled his  2008 effort. The president acknowledged his supporters have suffered some disappointments and setbacks over the past 2 1/2 years, but urged them to renew their efforts for his 2012 campaign. 

"I want you to think about all the unfinished business that lies ahead," Obama told supporters in Culver City. "I want you to be excited about the next 18 months, and then the next four years after that."

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-- Maeve Reston in Los Angeles

Photo: President Obama steps off Marine One to board Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Credit: Jim Young / Reuters

Comments

[HappyJack]

Obama is the only real candidate and what socialist country are you from?

[Toluca Lake Observer]

EDITOR: Allowing the word "cow," by an obvious seething partisan, to describe the President's wife in a supposedly moderated forum is unconscionable. What has gone wrong with posting standards reviews?

[Lori]

Good riddance, Mr. President. You arrived, spoke and answered no concerns. Offered no solutions. All you are doing is running for re-election.

How could you - what in Obasma's narrow minded ideologued "recollection" of these past two and a half damning years leads Barack Obama to "believe" he should stick it out- and doom all of us - to four more years. Because the dem party machine tells him too? Once again? Yikes.

Did he intone one bit of authority and "leadershipesque" on this publicly paid trip "out west"? No he did not.

He has failed. He has left us all WORSE OFF - unless you are a SEIU member who ponied up personal monies to keep him gifting you all with "favors" (stimulating public jobs that cannot be justified in the first place) - and look what "good" all of that trillion dollars worth of shoveless atimulation did any of us - out across America.

President Obama - what a true waste of fossil fuels on earth day this "trip" of yours on Air Force One turned out to be - trying to come out here and "shill master" your way back into OUR White House for four more years. Go away, sir. Quit lying.

[Ron Mann]

Hey Cal keep the worthless piece of crap, its the only place he seems to be able to hide and work his spin machine. Less than two years to put up with the Campaigner in Chief

[ACHARLOT]

Love President Obama

[Amber]

not just any soldier "Bradley Manning"......

[Lowest Credit Card Rates]

This is a complete joke. Instead of giving this money for a "campaign" they should just save it for a "bailout"