A Night of Pizza, Beer and Pool for Obama in Denver

By Jeralyn, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Tue Jul 08, 2014 at 11:17:53 PM EST
Tags: Barack Obama (all tags)

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President Obama drew a large crowd in Denver when he and Governor Hickenlooper stopped by the Wynkoop Brewery for some beer and pool tonight.

Obama clearly had a good time, he even whistled along with "Brown-Eyed Girl" as it played on the stereo system. Earlier he had pizza with some letterwriters from Denver. [More...]

Obama is on one of his "bear prowls", connecting with citizens as a means of getting out of Washington (and the White house.)

It was a case of "the bear is loose," the president's own description of the times when he is able to break free of the trappings of Washington and experience what everyday Americans see.

Too bad he won't stop at a pot shop for a meet and greet. Maybe someone would even slip a joint in his shirt pocket instead of a business card. Now that would be news.

Update: At least the subject came up. Take a look.. Watch a guy in the crowd yell to Obama, "Hey, You want a hit, man?" Obama laughs loudly -- guess he turned down the toke. Maybe next year.

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A Night of Pizza, Beer and Pool for Obama in Denver | 76 comments (76 topical)

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Walked with my dog to a neighborhood park today (5.00 / 2) (#44)
by christinep on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 08:41:02 PM EST

Cheeseman Park in Denver ... trees, lots of grass, good mountain view, lots of people of all ages today, and doggies everywhere. What a sweet, relaxing, beautiful setting in which to walk ... what a lovely morning for me, doggy Celeste, and a few friends to saunter over and wave at the President as he spoke of the headline gains in employment gained under his Administration after the disaster of the war torn, costly Bush years. A great day in Cheeseman Park.

Hey--it must be driving the nay & no-sayers nuts as we continue to progress. As President Obama said (with only a hint of a smile): If only the Republicans in Congress would do "something," they would join him in doing "something." Here, we liked especially the down-home approach of the President. And--relaxation and style aside--we liked here the work of Senator Mark Udall, who remained in DC (skipping events in Denver) to introduce today, together with Senator Patty Murray and 35 other Democratic co-sponsors, legislation to correct and resolve the Hobby Lobby travesty rendered by the Supreme Court last week.

A great day in Denver. My only question: How many Republican Senators will vote to support a legislative fix for the nix to birth control, corporate-loving case now known as Hobby Lobby? Good on Colorado's Senator Udall for his efforts in support of women's reproductive rights!

Say what??? (none / 0) (#56)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:37:14 PM EST

...gains in employment gained under his Administration after the disaster of the war torn, costly Bush years.

The labor force participation rate is at the rate it was during the Carter years.

And BTW - Hobby Lobby provides 16 contraception drugs....


Interesting metric (5.00 / 1) (#58)
by Yman on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:50:50 PM EST

Measuring employment by the labor participation rate. Wonder why you would want to use that, rather than the standard everyone else uses - the unemployment rate.

Someone might get the idea that you're trying (and failing) to mislead ...


Hobby Lobby doesn't provide anything (5.00 / 4) (#63)
by unitron on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 08:02:00 PM EST

They use money that's part of the employees' overall compensation package (in other words, money that belongs to the employees because they earned it) to purchase an insurance plan that covers those 16 contraception methods, but excludes others.

The insurance company would probably rather cover any and all contraception methods if it increases the chances of not having to pay the much greater cost associated with an employee's pregnancy.


Wow, you discovered a rather (none / 0) (#67)
by MKS on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 09:19:25 PM EST

arcane statistic.

How about the number of new jobs?

You really had to search for a statistic that you think looks bad.

There are demographic issues about the labor participation rate. Are you sure that rate has nothing to do with aging Boomers?


: Don't confuse the poor man ... (none / 0) (#69)
by Yman on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 10:29:56 PM EST

... with actual facts:

By 2012, the participation rate had fallen another 1.0 percentage point, to 63.7 percent. Of note is the fact that the drop in the labor force participation rate was just 0.6 percentage point during the 2007-2009 economic downturn whereas, between 2009 and 2012, since the end of the recession, the rate declined by another 1.7 percentage points. A major factor responsible for this downward pressure on the overall labor force participation rate is the aging of the baby-boom generation. (See figure 1.)

Glad he enjoyed himself (none / 0) (#1)
by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 08:18:47 AM EST

Everyone needs some decompression time.

Now if he would just go to the border and have a private meeting with Perry so they could talk without fear of angering their bases....

Not sure I agree (none / 0) (#2)
by ragebot on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 08:40:36 AM EST

Being prez is not about enjoying yourself. Maybe more to the point it should not be about fund raising, something Obama seems to be better suited for than dealing with real problems. It is not like there are not a lot of issues that need to be addressed. But Obama seems fine with putting things on the back burner if it looks like it will be bad PR for him.


From (none / 0) (#3)
by Ga6thDem on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 09:26:47 AM EST

what I understand Perry does not want to meet with him. So move onto the next talking point.


Not true on both counts (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by jbindc on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 09:40:39 AM EST

Perry didn't want a "quick handshake", but wanted a more "substantive meeting".

Obama was originally scheduled to be in Texas for fundraising and attend a meeting about the border crisis, where he invited Perry.

Basically, this is a case of gamesmanship - "I won't go to that thing you invited me to, but I'll look like a bigger person if I invite you to something else."


That (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Ga6thDem on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 10:12:49 AM EST

article doesn't say whether Perry was requesting that Obama come to him or whether he was willing to juggle his schedule to meet somewhere with Obama. Obama offered first and then Perry turned him down trying to weasel but like Anne said below what would a meeting with Perry accomplish anyway? Perry would probably like most Republicans want 100% of his demands met and if they weren't met come out screaming that the president isn't going to "do anything".


: It appears (5.00 / 1) (#10)
by jbindc on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 10:35:03 AM EST

that Perry asked for a meeing first, and then Obama asked to meet Perry in Dallas.

WASHINGTON -- Under pressure Tuesday to offer a robust response to the border crisis, President Barack Obama agreed to meet with Gov. Rick Perry -- one of his most outspoken critics -- when he's in Dallas on Wednesday.
The last-minute addition to the president's schedule was fraught with political implications.
It came on the day he asked Congress for $3.7 billion to cope with the flood of young migrants pouring across the border illegally, many from Central America.
And it may have been an effort to blunt criticism from Perry and other leaders in both parties over Obama's avoidance of the border or any facility related to the crisis during a two-day Texas trip that is dominated by campaign fundraisers.
Perry proposed the meeting on Monday in a letter in which he pointedly refused to show up at the airport in Austin for any mere photo opportunity. Early Tuesday, the White House announced that Obama had invited Perry to meet him in Dallas to discuss the crisis.

Not that I think it will be productive and is just a photo-op.

: Oh quit playing games. (none / 0) (#49)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:23:25 PM EST

Obama wanted a ring kiss and instead was beat at his own game.

And really, what would it even accomplish (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by Anne on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 09:55:11 AM EST

were the two to meet? A photo op of Perry refusing the shake the president's hand? That such a thing would even be on the list of "things that are really important to do" is just more evidence of how completely whacked these Republicans are.

And let's also remember that, as governor of the State of Texas - henceforth to be known as The Cuckoo's Nest - Rick Perry is the de facto head of the Texas GOP, and that makes him the guy who's blessed its absolutely insane platform. Obama's not going to be talking Rick Perry into seeing things his way - I'm not even sure Perry understands words of more than one syllable.

We all know, don't we, that no matter what Obama and the Dems propose on the matter of immigration, the Republicans will reject it out of hand - even if what's proposed are ideas they have come up with themselves.

So, really, what's the point of even pretending these people are legitimately interested in sane, rational governance; they clearly are not.


Yup, one can only imagine a (5.00 / 1) (#41)
by ruffian on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 02:58:45 PM EST

"working session" involving Rick Perry. All the smart guy eyeglasses in the world can't drill some smarts into that skull.


: Oh my goodness... (2.00 / 1) (#51)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:27:52 PM EST

Here we have a call for a meeting that might promote fabled bipartisanship and all you Obama lovers can do is snark.
Tells me where your heads are.

: Cue cards (none / 0) (#68)
by MKS on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 09:35:31 PM EST

Little index cards.....would help Perry.
Or he could just write on his hand.

Of course they aren't (none / 0) (#9)
by jbindc on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 10:32:32 AM EST

But a photo op of Obama attending big fundraisers in the state and not addressing the immigration crisis wouldn't be good either, so both sides are trying to cover saying they want to meet.

It's all BS.


You know I'm not normally a (4.00 / 0) (#11)
by Anne on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 11:07:41 AM EST

big - or even small - defender of the president, but the business of governing the country does not happen in photo ops, even if that's what the media and the Republican party want us to believe. Obama doesn't have to be on the border to actually be working on or dealing with the immigration crisis, anymore than he has to be in Iraq to deal with the problems there, or at the Treasury department or the Fed to deal with economic issues, and so on.

I agree the optics are bad - but there's a reason we call them that: they really don't mean much, nor are they representative of what's going on outside the reach of cameras and microphones. And we both know that it wouldn't matter what the photos and video showed - the GOP would find a way to spin it as a negative. If he appears to be actually doing something, he's pandering or grandstanding. If he's off shaking hands and collecting checks, he's ignoring his presidential responsibilities.

I have no idea why anyone would want the job, especially not now, when the opposition party has lost its collective mind.


They Mentioned on the TV... (5.00 / 2) (#33)
by ScottW714 on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 01:57:37 PM EST

...that Obama going to the border would create more security issues and they are already strung thin.

Who knows, but I do find the fact that just a picture of any GOP candidate (beyond prez) shaking Obama's hand is political suicide in the GOP.

Jim, remind me, I keep forgetting why we are to take the GOP seriously. Seriously.

The really funny thing is Perry was a member of the Democratic Party when Reagan was in office.


Anne (none / 0) (#50)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:25:38 PM EST

You know I'm not normally a (4.00 / 1) (#11)
by Anne on Wed Jul 09, 2014 at 10:07:41 AM CST
big - or even small - defender of the president, but the business of governing the country does not happen in photo ops,

Come now. Tell me you didn't criticize Bush for not going to New Orleans.

lol.


So, it really is about payback (5.00 / 1) (#53)
by MKS on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:30:18 PM EST

No substance.

Just as Republicans have been trying to even the score over Watergate for generations.

The issue is Bush got criticized over Katrina, so Obama should be criticized over not going to the Border.

Do you really care if Obama goes to the Border or is just about payback? What would he accomplish at the Border?


: No, it is hypocrisy (none / 0) (#57)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 10, 2014 at 05:40:40 PM EST

I am sure Anne was one of the many who criticized Bush.
Now it is Obama's turn and she, and you, can't stand it.
Do I care if he goes?? Nope. He won't do the right thing even if he is baptized in the Rio Grande.