President Barack Obama stopped in Isleworth, near Orlando, at the mansion of NBA player Vincer Carter Thursday night for a fundraiser, and used the occasion to talk about one of his favorite campaign themes – fairness in America with basketball stars and a handful of other guests.
Obama told the gathering of 70 people who contributed $30,000 a ticket, that he believes “we have weathered the worst of the storm” of a bad economy, but that everywhere people are still hurting.
“Obviously, those here, we’ve been blessed,” Obama said. “But one of the great things about America and one of the great things about professional sports is we’ve all got cousins, uncles, family members, who are still struggling. And we are reminded we have a lot more work to do.”
The crowd included Carter, of the Dallas Mavericks, Steve Smith of the Atlanta Hawks and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers, as well as NBA commissioner David Stern and Dallas Mavericks owner Marc Cuban, plus former NBA stars Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.
Others at the party included Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fl., U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines, and Orlando lawyer John Morgan.
According to news reports, the event raised $2.1 million, which will go to Obama’s re-election campaign and the National Democratic Party.
During his 13-minute speech to the gathering, Obama reviewed his record on job creation, health care reform, student loans and energy, all the while trying to stress fairness as an issue in the economy. He repeated his long-held theme that he inherited the country’s economic woes, but didn’t create them.
“A few people were doing really well,” he said, recalling 2009. “What used to be the core of the American middle class felt like it was falling behind.”
“And so the consequence, even as we made sure that we do everything we can to dig ourselves out of this incredible hole that I inherited, even as we strengthened the economy and focused like a laser on getting people back to work, we’ve also tried to say: how do we rebuild America in a way where everybody has a fair shot, where everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules, and everybody who is willing to take responsibility and work hard, they can get ahead?”
“And that’s been our challenge,” Obama said.
The president arrived at Carter’s home shortly before 9 p.m. and left at 10:36 p.m. Air Force One left Orlando International Airport at 11:17 p.m.
Adapted from pool report- Scott Powers-Orlando Sentinel.
