Dinged and dented, President Obama storms Atlanta like General Sherman

“I got a few dings and dents from doing business in Washington,” an upbeat incumbent president told a group gathered at a fundraiser in Atlanta’s Sherwood neighborhood yesterday. Like General Sherman nearly a century and a half ago, President Obama swooped into Georgia to set it ablaze. Yet unlike Sherman, President Obama intended to ignite a firestorm in the soul of his Democratic base.

The President’s remarks were made at the home of Atlanta businessman Mack Wilbourn, who supported him as candidate Obama in 2008. Tickets for this event were $10,000 per person. There was a sizable crowd gathered for this reception.

“The reason I ran, and the reason people like Mack (Wilbourn) supported me, wasn’t just to get back to square one,” he told supporters gathered in Mr. Wilbourn’s kitchen.

President Obama spent around five hours in a Red State many political pundits believe will remain a Red State after the November election. What brought him to town was the movie mogul Tyler Perry, who also hosted the president and several of his entertainment buddies who were willing to plop down $38,500 to dine with the president at Perry’s Buckhead mansion.

After dinner, Perry hosted a reception for the President at his southwest Atlanta movie studio. Southwest Atlanta is a largely African American section of the city and once boosted of having the highest income per capita of any African American neighborhood in the southeast. Greenbriar Parkway was lined on both sides of the street with supporters who could not afford the minimum $250 price tag for the reception.

One senior African American woman, who did not want to give her name, standing on the sidewalk outside of Perry’s studio, said she did not mind the President coming to town just to raise money.

“He’s going to need all the money he can get,” she said, “because them Republicans are spending money like its water.”

The day's events reportedly raised a cool $5 million. (See http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-17-obama-banks-a-

cool-5mill-in-oneday-campaign-blitz/).

The President got a chance to see Perry’s independent movie studio which sets on 200,000 – square – feet at what had been vacant space for several decades until Perry bought and developed a state-of-the-art movie studio.

Congressmen John Lewis, Hank Johnson, Sanford Bishop and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed greeted the President when Air Force One touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Neither Georgia’s Republican Governor nor any of the Republican congressional delegation was on hand for the President’s visit.

“I’m determined, I’m ready to work, and I hope you are,” the President said as he departed the city.

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