Obama visits World Trade Center

Obama visits World Trade Center site with Christie, Cuomo, Bloomberg

By Shawn Boburg / The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
Friday, June 15, 2012

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama visited the World Trade Center site for the second time in nine months on Thursday, this time accompanied by three men of different political stripes who may figure prominently in his re-election bid.

Obama toured the rising One World Trade Center tower with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, getting a brief update on construction progress and signing a steel beam that will be laid on the top floor of the tower. Unlike past presidential visits, the tour did not coincide with any milestone, such as an anniversary of the terror attacks or the completion of a phase of the project.

Most of Obama’s trip, his second to New York City in 10 days, was spent at a pair of campaign events — including a $40,000-per-person dinner at the Manhattan home of actress Sarah Jessica Parker — illustrating the region’s prominence as candidates seek to raise cash. It comes as the presidential race enters a new, aggressive phase of fundraising and heated rhetoric.

Neither New York nor New Jersey is considered a battleground state, but their relative wealth makes them important sources of campaign contributions. And the elected leaders who walked the site with Obama, all of whom enjoy broad approval among their constituents, are sure to be asked to rustle up money and support for each of the presidential candidates.
Christie, a Republican and a surrogate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has been a vocal critic of the president in recent months. But he exchanged laughs with Obama while talking on the 22nd floor of the tower. And earlier in the tour, Christie ushered Michelle Obama with a touch on her shoulder to look through a glass pane above the 16-acre site.
Cuomo, a Democrat, has vowed to support Obama’s campaign any way he can. And Bloomberg, an independent, has not made an endorsement, despite being wooed by both Obama and Romney.
The three walked along the 22nd floor of the tower, trailed by top officials from the Port Authority, which is overseeing construction. There was plenty of stagecraft — at one point, Port Authority officials stood back so Obama could be photographed chatting with the two governors. But there were no signs of tension during the visit, and discussion appeared to be limited to the site.
"You know," Obama could be heard telling Cuomo at one point while looking at the 9/11 Memorial pools, "we didn’t expect how powerful it is, and the sound of that water."
Obama’s only statement addressed to the media during the 45-minute appearance was to thank laborers assembled at the base of the building for their work, telling them, "That’s what the American spirit is all about."
He also signed his name on a 28-foot white beam, along with the words, "We remember, we rebuild, we come back strong!" The beam, also signed by Michelle Obama, the two governors and the mayor, will be installed in the building’s highest floor, the 104th, in a topping off ceremony that is expected within weeks.
Howard Glaser, one of Cuomo’s top advisers, said both governors spoke to Obama about "the progress at the site," until the group reached windows overlooking the 9/11 Memorial. "Then the conversation became a little more somber," he said. "It was more silence than conversation at that point."
If there was a political subtext, experts said it was not likely to be apparent.
"This is an event that ought to be above politics and everyone involved understands this," said Patrick Murray, the director of the Polling Institute at Monmouth University. "Bringing the 2012 election into this would be a mistake."

Obama was last at the World Trade Center for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks in September, but he did not go into the tower during that visit, a Port Authority spokesman said. Most of the approximately $14 billion project is being paid for by the Port Authority, which gets its revenues from airports, seaports and bridge and tunnel tolls. The Federal Transit Administration is covering $2.5 billion of a $3.4 billion transportation hub on the site.
The tower’s steel beams have reached the 104th floor. An antenna will rise another 408 feet, bringing the tower up to 1,776 feet.

Construction crews are dressing the building’s steel exoskeleton with concrete floor slabs, now as high as the 92nd floor, and an exterior curtain of glass, up to the 77th floor. Marble is going into the lobby at the building’s base, which will be the last section to be covered in glass panels.
Roads around the lower Manhattan site and the World Trade Center PATH station were closed for security reasons during the Obama visit, in the height of evening rush hour.
Fifty people were expected to attend the dinner at Parker’s West Village home, the Obama campaign said. Entry to the second event, featuring a performance by singer Mariah Carey at Plaza Hotel, was $10,000 per person.

Obama’s short stop at the World Trade Center pleased Silkey Williams, one of the three dozen construction workers who watched him sign the beam. Obama gave her a hug after noticing she was wearing a T-shirt with his image on it. And Michelle Obama pointed her out, encouraging her for being "a woman in construction."
"It was awesome, a real pleasure to meet both of them," Williams beamed.