President Obama went on a buckraking blitz through the city Wednesday, tapping wealthy donors at three coffer-boosting fundraisers.
Obama told raucous supporters he needed another term to fulfill the promise of his 2008 campaign–and to put Americans back to work.
“It’s time for us to refocus and make sure that we understand that ‘change we can believe in’ was never going to be change overnight,” Obama said at the glitzy Gotham Bar and Grill in the East Village, where donors forked over $25,800 each to hobnob with the commander-in-chief.
“Rather it’s gonna be a slow, steady progression during which this aircraft carrier that we call United States of America slowly shifts in a direction that promises more opportunity.”
Obama said he needed to make sure important parts of the health care law are implemented in 2014– and that new banking regulations and energy policies are put in place.
“I’m going to need another term to finish the job,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Obama traveled to the Upper East Side home of businessman Jack Rosen— chairman of the American Council for World Jewry– where about 30 cocktail-sipping donors forked over at least $10,000 each.
He told them the last few years had been “tough for the American people, for people around the world, and we’re not out of the woods yet.”
After citing accomplishments like staving off a great depression, passing healthcare reform and ending the war in Iraq, he admitted “we still have to put people back to work.”
The president also used the event to assuage his Jewish supporters.
Republican candidates have slammed him for months over his dealings with Israel, claiming he has weakened America’s relationship with the Jewish state.
“This administration…has done more for the security” of Israel “than any previous administration”, he said. “We don’t compromise when it comes to Israel’s security.”
“No ally is more important” to the U.S. than Israel, he added.
Shifting to the 2012 election, Obama bashed republicans for failing to put “country ahead of party” during the past two years.
“All the things that made us a great power they seem to be ready to abandon for ideological reasons,” he griped.
Obama capped off his cash-bash by posing with gay and lesbian supporters before attending a fundraising party at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers.
About 100 Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered outside the midtown hotel to protest the fundraiser, carrying signs that called Obama a “corporate puppet.”
With News Wire Services
