Opinion: Vegas Mayor Goodman gives Obama a passing grade for non-apology

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Presiding from his throne-like chair in a City Hall office stuffed with more Vegas trinkets than a casino gift shop, Mayor Oscar Goodman held court this afternoon on the Democratic president’s remarks about his city, as posted on The Ticket earlier.

Goodman, who acts as subtly as his notoriously understated city, was disappointed that Obama didn’t say the ‘magic words’ -- Las Vegas is a great place for conventions!

(Nor did either suggest: When your meetings are done, stay for the weekend. Gamble some. Buy a $200 bottle of Grey Goose. I’ve heard that what happens here, stays here ...)

The mayor did concede the president demonstrated the Strip’s value as a business destination.

‘He took a break, came to Las Vegas and he did serious business,’ Goodman told reporters. And raised serious millions for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at Caesars Palace, as also described here this morning.

Last weekend, Goodman said, he got a phone call from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel indicating the president would seek to soothe any hurt civic feelings.

Unlike Nevada’s Republican governor, Jim Gibbons, Goodman accepted Obama’s invitation to greet him at the airport Tuesday. ‘It would have been rude and disrespectful of me ... to decline an invitation from the president,’ the mayor said.

Goodman said he reminded Obama twice on Tuesday to champion the tourist destination. If Obama had asked Goodman today how he did, ‘I would have said ... you ran 95 yards and you ran out of gas.’

After the 10-minute press conference, a reporter suggested that Goodman might have been more successful had he greeted Obama with a showgirl on each arm.

Maybe next time.

--Ashley Powers

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