By: Kim Wilmath, St. Petersburg Times
U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden arrived separately to Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base just before noon Thursday to attend a town hall meeting at the University of Tampa.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer were among those who greeted the president after Air Force One touched down. Gov. Crist was one of the first to greet Obama, offering him a firm handshake and leaning in to speak to him for about a minute.
Earlier, Crist told reporters he would thank Obama for approving stimulus funding to create a high-speed rail linking Tampa to Orlando. “I want to thank him on behalf of my fellow Floridians,” Crist said. “To be able to generate tens of thousands of jobs right now is mission number one.”
The governor also said he would urge Obama to promote more bipartisanship in Washington and “less bickering,” and he said he would make a plug for Race-to-the-Top education funding.
When asked about rumors that he did not want to appear with the president, Crist said, “If that were true, I wouldn’t be here.”
Crist went on to say, “We don’t agree on everything, but we agree when it comes to fighting for jobs for my fellow Floridians. I have an opportunity as governor to fight for them every day, and damn it, I’m gonna do it.”
He said the rail funding was “huge,” and that the project would create more than 2,300 jobs, according to estimates.
Obama and Biden stopped to speak to guests of MacDill Air Force officials, smiling, holding babies and shaking hands. They then walked to MacDill’s hanger No. 2, where they toured a KC-135 Stratotanker — an aircraft that refuels other plans in-air that has been recently involved in Haiti aid missions.
Colonel Larry Martin, the MacDill Air Force Base wing commander, led Obama and Biden on a tour of the hangar, introducing them to dozens of crew members who demonstrated how parts of the aircraft worked.
When an airman told Obama he, too, was from Chicago, the president laughed and said, “The weather’s nicer here.”
At 12:30 Obama and Biden left the hangar and got into their limousines, followed by a 25-car motorcade. They drove off the runway, headed to the University of Tampa’s Bob Martinez Sports Complex on N Boulevard.
