LAS VEGAS – President Barack Obama is known for having a way with words, but some lawmakers from Nevada wish he would pipe down about trips to Sin City.
After sparking a firestorm of criticism from Nevada's elected officials for suggesting that people saving money for college shouldn't blow it in Las Vegas, Obama told U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a letter that he wasn't saying anything negative about Las Vegas.
It was the second time since taking office that Obama singled out Las Vegas as a potential example of spending excessively.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said during a hastily called news conference that Obama is no friend to Las Vegas and would not be welcomed here if he visits.
"I'll do everything I can to give him the boot," Goodman said. "This president is a real slow learner."
Goodman and others are worried that Obama's words will discourage visitors from coming to Las Vegas and depress the industry further.
One year ago, Obama commented during a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., that corporations shouldn't use federal bailout money for trips to Las Vegas, the Super Bowl or corporate jets. Tourism and casino officials said the comment hurt the city as companies canceled meetings in Las Vegas and rescheduled them elsewhere.
Obama later said during a May 2009 trip to Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas that it was nice to get out of Washington and "there's nothing like a quick trip to Vegas in the middle of the week."
Goodman said he thought Obama had a "psychological hang-up" of using Las Vegas as an example of excessive spending, and that this time, an apology wouldn't be enough.
"He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn't thinking," Goodman said. "Sometimes when he's not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn't think. And this is one of those times he didn't think, and he should straighten out the record because he's been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place."
It's hell not having your
7 comments:
Horrendous gaffe? So your position is that bankers should use their bailout money for trips to Las Vegas?
How is this silliness different from the ridicule of Bush that you so deplored?
@wally: the horrendous gaffe is that he used Las Vegas as an example of Babylon before and was burned for it, and yet did it again. Dog returns to his vomit, and all that. I don't necessarily disagree that he's wrong about bankers going to Vegas, it's just that he was stupid to use it as an example again after being burned before.
And it's not different from libs bashing Bush in a similar way; but you seem to feel that conservatives ought to live up to their reputation for fairness and not retaliate; you know well, though, that I don't play by those rules, since doing so only causes you guys to snicker up your collective sleeves and think of us as fools and suckers.
So much for moral absolutism.
Oh come on! Vegas is the first place everyone thinks of as an example of excess. (Well, maybe the second place, DC being the first.)
What annoys me most is not that Obama is a Stumblebum, but that the Lame Stream Media covers for him. When George Bush was in office, each and every misspoken word was proof positive that we had elected the village idiot.
My guess is a comparison of grades (if Obama would release his) would show that GW Bush did better in school.
Certainly he was a more careful and considerate speaker.
I agree! Also, I believe Obama was born on the moon.
As the mayor of Vegas has so elequently put it, O'bumble is a very slow learner.
Gerry N.
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