Most curious stop on President Barack Obama’s two days of speeches in five cities is today’s stop in Las Vegas, the place where three years ago he scolded companies that planned to hold meetings or events in the gambling mecca, which now ranks as the foreclosure capital of the U.S. as thousands of casino and allied workers were laid off, notes Grumpy Editor.
Unemployment in Las Vegas last year: 13.3 percent, among the highest in the nation.
In reporting from Sin City today, it will be interesting to observe if national print/broadcast correspondents, some with fuzzy memories, work in the president’s February, 2009 line aimed at business gatherings, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Soon after that statement, Wells Fargo Bank and Goldman Sachs, among others, shifted major meetings from Las Vegas to other cities. Tourists also shunned the famous Las Vegas Strip.
Prior to that, Obama made 20 visits to Las Vegas during his first campaign, grabbing attention by saying he wanted to help “not just the folks who own casinos but the folks who are serving in casinos.”
So today’s nationally-televised speech in Las Vegas will not be from the casino-lined Strip but rather at a United Parcel Service hub near McCarran International Airport.
Soon after the mid-morning delivery, mainly to UPS workers, the president heads for Denver, then Detroit.
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