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twitterObama makes no mention of Vegas tourism remark
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 12:11 a.m.
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No apologies.
No clarifications.
No setting the record straight.
President Barack Obama's speech at a Harry Reid fundraiser Tuesday night made no reference whatsoever to the remarks that sent Vegas boosters -- and Mayor Oscar Goodman in particular -- into a fury a few months ago.
In February, Obama said companies receiving taxpayer money "can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” Local tourism officials and elected leaders, led by Goodman, said that the comments, regardless of context, created the perception among the public that the city was off limits.
Notably, they have offered little to no evidence that declining business is related to the president's comments.
On Tuesday, as close as Obama got to the controversy was mentioning his hotel room. "It's good to be back in Caesars," he said. "That was the hotel we stayed at when we were campaigning in Nevada, and I thought we had a pretty nice room. But now that I'm president, they upgraded me. It's a really nice room now."
Discussion: 11 comments so far…
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He kisses butts of our enemies like Chavez who might be sending nuclear material to Iran that one day might come back to us in the form a bomb.
Yet, he encourages businesses to stay away from Las Vegas and does not set the record straight on that issue.
It is obvious that he cares less about Las Vegas.
Perhaps if we become the enemy of the USA than we get better attention.
Earlier this year some operators were in denial (i.e. panic) and slow to respond to corporate customer demand for lower revpar bookings, because their cost structures are so high.
Perhaps Obama should listen to his own advice and not take a trip to Vegas on the taxpayer's dime. He should be in the oval office doing his job. He shouldn't be using my tax money to help his friends get elected.
Vegas is a great place for business to come to hold meetings. Compare us to San Fran, Chicago, and New York our hotel fees are lower, meeting space less expensive and more people will attend the day time meetings because there is plenty of night life.
Orlando the next nearest competition to Vegas for conventions and meetings usually finds a high registration but low floor attendance as people bring their families and are touring Disney instead of the convention floor.
Yes records need to be set straight, even among the people that comment and live in this state.
Please read his comment carefully, he was referring to companies that have been bailed out by the government, i.e., they should not be using taxpayer money for junkets and planes. Las Vegas could easily overcome this comment by using their collective brains to advertise Las Vegas as a goto location for companies not on the public dole to come to at great prices. The main problem is not the Obama comment, it's the recession stupid!!
Vegasguy,
President Obama should have chosen his words more carefully and not singled out Las Vegas in any way. Why couldn't he have simply said "You can't take corporate jets and travel on the taxpayer's dime". By singling out Las Vegas by name, he caused our city to lose enormous revenue almost immediately as soon as he said the words. That revenue was spent somewhere else directly because of the President's poor choice of words. I understand the point of what he was trying to say, and I even agree with his point, but his inability to say it without hurting Las Vegas is a testament to his inexperience. If he would just acknowledge that his words hurt Nevadans, and apologize for the damage he did, the conversation would end. It's just beyond me that he refuses to acknowledge this mistake that he made and try to turn it around a little. There's nothing wrong with admitting a mistake, but there's plenty wrong with refusing to even acknowledge it when so much money was lost.
Hey friday, he did apologize, mater of fact it was within a week of him making the comment. What else do you folks want him to do! Geeze, I'm sorry but their are seriously more pressing issues involving this country and the world for that matter, than some random person's perception of Las Vegas based on a comment that was taken out of context. People have said far worse things, Vegas WILL BE FINE! At worst that comment caused maybe 4 companies to move their "junkets". But fact is they needed to anyway!
SMB,
I am sincerely not aware of any apology from President Obama for what he said. I tried looking it up and I can't find anything. If you can post a link I would appreciate it. If he did apologize the matter should be dropped.
Also, why do you feel that these companies needed to move their conventions? What logic leads you to believe that their money should be spent anywhere but Las Vegas? Four company junkets is a lot of revenue, you really shouldn't be advocating anywhere but here.
To Vegasguy10: A lot of the companies were told they had to take the money or else. What do you tell them. Obama only says what the polls tell him to say.
Mr. Obama need not say anything about this non-issue. Mr. Goodman and Mr. Gibbons need to move on with the business of ruining Las Vegas/Nevada all by themselves. Once those two are out of office we will be just fine. If you whiners need an apology you should be asking it of Gibbons the fool and Goodman the shiester.
He made a statement that directly impacted revenue heading to Las Vegas, and that money went to other cities as a direct result of his statement. All I'm saying is that if an apology is all that is needed to end this dialogue, why won't he do it. He did speak carelessly. I agree with the point he was making, he just used terrible judgement in choosing his words. The fact that he so adamantly refuses to acknowledge that bothers me. He cost Las Vegas a lot of money. A lot of Las Vegans that would have been on-call working those conventions lost a paycheck.