Nostalgic air in Obama’s Silicon Valley visit
President Obama finished another whirlwind spin through Silicon Valley Thursday, vacuuming up campaign cash for Democratic candidates on his way to Southern California for a TV appearance and a Monday summit with heads of Southeast Asian nations.
But there was a feeling of nostalgia and backward glances this time around as the president nears the end of his eight years in office. The money he raised for the Democratic National Committee, for example, is going toward the party’s efforts to elect his successor. He talked about how important he believes that effort is.
“The incredible success we have had together” is not an excuse for complacency but a spur to action, the president told a crowd of 300 or so in the backyard of the Atherton home of Steve Westly, former state controller and a possible candidate for governor in 2018.
“We know that our job isn’t finished. We know we have a lot more work to do,” Obama said. “I want to see as much progress eight years from now as we have made over the last eight years.”
But nostalgia has its limits. When one person yelled, “Four more years,” the president hurriedly waved it off.
“Not only is there a constitutional provision, but Michelle would kill me,” he said.
This was a South Bay- only visit for the president, who flew in to Moffett Field in Sunnyvale Wednesday and spent the night at a hotel in Milpitas.
Palo Alto and Atherton
On Thursday, he had stops in Palo Alto and Atherton before getting back on Air Force One for an early afternoon flight to Los Angeles.
Once again, California residents needed to bring their checkbooks if they wanted to hear Obama. While he spoke to the Illinois Legislature and at an arts center in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, it was almost all fundraising, all the time once he landed in California.
Obama’s first stop Thursday was at a private home in Palo Alto for what was described as a “high- dollar, low- turnout” event for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. With fewer than two dozen people in the room at 10: 40 a. m., the president spent 45 minutes sitting around a table and talking with the guests, who had paid $ 33,400 apiece to be there.
Outside, residents lined the street, waving at the motorcade as it went by.
It was a much bigger noontime crowd at Westly’s sprawling home in Atherton, where more than a dozen parking attendants were on the run, trying to find spots for the visitors’ autos on the narrow streets of the upscale community.
The event raised about $ 10,000 less than it might have after Atherton billed Westly for the cost of the security, parking patrols, street closures and the other support the small town was forced to provide for the president’s visit.
“We’ve had an ordinance since 2009 requiring reimbursement,” said City Manager George Rodericks. “We just let ( the homeowner) know what the approximate costs will be, tally everything up and present them with a bill.”
Beefed- up security
Since Atherton has only 19 police officers, outside help was needed for Thursday’s presidential event, with officers from Burlingame, Menlo Park, Redwood City, the California Highway Patrol and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department helping with security.
The road closures brought plenty of headaches in the town. Residents near the event were forced to wait for Secret Service bomb dogs to sniff through their cars before they could make their way home, and gardeners and delivery trucks in the neighborhood received police escorts to make sure where they were going.
But for Perry Shoor, a neighbor of Westly’s, the security wasn’t a major annoyance.
“This sort of thing isn’t too frequent,” he said as he stood down the hill from the event, hoping for a look at the motorcade. “If it bothers people, they know it won’t last too long.”
Obama has more fundraisers scheduled for Los Angeles, along with a Friday appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
The president will spend the weekend relaxing in the Palm Springs area before hosting the two- day Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Rancho Mirage on Monday.