The presidential motorcade heads toward Amsterdam Avenue on West 66th street Thursday. Some said they could see Obama through the windows of this vehicle. Photo by Bette Kerr.
Yes, lots of people complained about the hassle of closed streets and diverted traffic, but others were excited to see the president wind his way through the Upper West Side en route to a fundraiser Thursday in an apartment on Riverside Boulevard. The photos above and below are from frequent West Side Rag photographer Bette Kerr. The bottom photo is from a reader named Anthony — it shows people heading to their buildings after the motorcade left. There were sand-filled dump trucks blocking the intersections at 70th and 71st and Riverside Boulevard.
For those keeping score, it’s not clear whether Obama has visited New York City more than his predecessors, as the White House wouldn’t give the Wall Street Journal an official tally. But historians do say he seems to enjoy spending time in the city more than other presidents.
“No modern president other than Franklin Roosevelt has had a close personal connection to New York City,” said Timothy Naftali, a New York University presidential historian.
Officers on motorcycles accompanied the president’s vehicle.
The president left his event around 7 and headed down Riverside Boulevard.
Hi!
I watched the prez go by when he was coming out of Trump Place yesterday and saw his face – I have a photo of him in his vehicle if you want it! I’m a West Sider and couldn’t help but stalk him a little bit. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to see POTUS?
-Leah Williams
I’d love to see it!!!
Losers
@ Cassidy… You know what?.. No matter what one’s personal opinion of Obama, he is our President, one of if not The most powerful man in the world and he deserves the respect as one…. And he was in our hood!
You don’t get to tell people who they will an won’t respect. He’s the worst president in the history of the country. No one has done more damage to the U.S. domestically and internationally. Grow up.
Really Mike???!!! Why the hostility? That is You’re opinion. In my opinion…You’re the one that needs to grow up!!!! Yes there has been a lot of delusionment regarding this President but again in my opinion I know that Bush was worse and I still respected the Presidency. Which dosen’t seem like you do at all. Therefore again I think you need to grow up and think twice before you spew out hostility.
Mike is right. Obama is a miserable failure.
The world is blowing up and he’s raising money. Nice.
@Joe – you’re right. He should be in Iraq right now, fighting! How dare he do what President’s do? The nerve!
@ShermCraig If that’s what you think presidents are elected to do, then he is your man and you deserve him.
I took several pics from my apt. window on 66th st. going up up Riverside Blvd. and I took pics in front of my building on Riverside Blvd. He waved. I waved back. Don’t have that photo though.Too blurry. All happened way to fast.
Of course the nimby liberals are out in droves
While Israel is under attack and is sending ground troops to Gaza and Russians are shooting planes in Ukraine, our president is helping some Democrats to raise money for some campaign. As always, his priorities are all in the right places!
@ UWS girl… I hope you felt the same way towards Bush when he ignored New Orleans during Katrina. And that was in OUR country.
Hmmm….
So aren’t you both right? Can’t he both be doing what all modern presidents do and be better than Bush, and also be a corrupt, mediocre president that’s good at making pretty speeches that we upper west side librals love?
Let’s not forget about our own domestic issues. Like the wide open US/Mexican border.
@Caminooch… You should watch the movie “The Gatekeeper”
Why all the fuss!
Meanwhile the UWS was amazingly serenely quiet yesterday! We even had trash cans that weren’t overflowing! And fewer cars aggressively honking their horns. A wonderful day. Bring back the President again.
@joy… You’re name says it all! Nice to hear a joyful comment. Instead of hate and hostility. Thank you! I totally agree with you!
A truly excellent president who’s done immense good for the country and is welcome any time on the UWS.
If you can name ONE good thing he’s done for the country, I will give you a dollar. But you can’t.
You probably voted for warmonger McCain and blithering idiot Palin, in which case you have no credibility whatsoever, but for what it’s worth, Obama has …
… brought our troops home, passed a health reform bill paid for mostly by the health care industry that helped millions of Americans gain peace of mind and exercise personal responsibility by obtaining health insurance, overseen a steady decrease in the unemployment rate and a steady increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, increased oversight of banks that committed widespread criminal conduct, rescued the American auto industry, doubled fuel efficiency standards, presided over a historic increase in energy independence, made important investments in clean energy and infrastructure, vastly improved America’s standing in the world, disarmed a Mideast regime (Syria) of chemical weapons without firing a shot, set the stage for historic regulations to curb pollution and address climate change, enacted crippling sanctions on Iran, aggressively attacked terrorists via drone warfare in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, helped to advance women’s rights and gay rights, introduced historic Medicare reforms to improve quality and save money, recovered record-setting amounts of money through tough enforcement of fraud statutes in health care and defense, and that’s all just off the top of my head without Googling. P.S. Keep your dollar – Obama cut middle-class taxes so I’m good!
Wow – Jeff and christina should get to know each other. A perfect match for their delusional ignorance
@UWS guy… LOL! You’re funny. Have I seen you at Stand-Up NY? Or maybe it was Caroline’s. No, I think I saw you with a tin cup on Broadway.
LOL you have to be Kidding me, Obama is a total tool only the supper rich and the poor really care for him. Which one are you?
“Supper rich”
Is that along the lines of “Eat the Rich?”
Wow Jeff, what color is the sky in your world?
Maybe you should have used Google to get your facts correct, but then why let facts get in the way of your liberal fantasies.
Which of those facts are incorrect? They all seem pretty on-target to me. Even more impressive given the scorched-earth policy adopted by the Republican congress..
All this “worst president” blather is opinion not fact.
Maybe you should turn off Fox News.
Jeff: if you really did that w/o googling… that’s pretty impressive! (on your part as well as Obama’s.)
@JoeyB…Also…Since Obama took office, corporate profits are way up. So is business investment, job growth (moderately), retail sales, manufacturing (well, barely). Want to buy another house? Interest rates are fantastic. The housing crisis has largely subsided, and home foreclosures are way down. Also, people are buying lots of new cars, and there’s a fully recovered auto industry ready to meet all demand.
Of course, it’s all pretty shaky. Flawed and imbalanced and could give out at any second – but that’s just the nature of the excruciatingly complex, unstable world economy these days.
And while corporations are raking it in, workers are seeing less and less of their fair share. There are still myriad problems, and Obama’s policies are far from perfect. No party’s ever are. Regardless, given the impossible economic hell-pit Obama was left with, it’s unlikely any president could have possibly done better.
@JoeyB…One among many… He got Bin Laden!
Obama is a shame for a used-to-be a great country…
@Gene we have been shamed by a number of other Presidents. We have had our ups and downs as far as being a great country.
I think a lot of the anger with the visit is the timing, in light of Russia’s actions. It shows the administration has a tin-ear, and lacks gravitas. Look, 300 people (incl. one American) are murdered by the proxies of a man who wants war (Putin). It’s serious. One cannot go to a fundraiser. I’ve been to these events – you know what they consist of? Glad-handing, smiles, jokes, funny anecdotes, pictures & selfies. In other words, sophomoric actions when the times call for seriousness and deliberation. Remember the Mandela funeral selfie? This is akin to that. Who is advising this man? Had he postponed the fundraiser, the headlines would be “Obama says no to big money and goes to White House to confront the situation”, rather than “Obama goes to another fundraiser as Russia commits an act of war?” And by the way, say he postponed it for a week . . . I guarantee the same crew of big-money donors would have still shown up, checks in hand.
The timing and overall perception doesn’t help but this guy’s imperial presidency, the mess of the economy which is likely going back into a recession, inflationary pressures, no transparency, so many scandals that even his scandas have scandals, could go on and on but this guy is horrible
Comments like this really make me ill. Parroting fact-free nonsense from the Conservative echo chamber.
I hesitate to descend to your level but here goes
Imperial presidency.. do you even know what Imperial means? Aside from the utter contradiction in terms, Obama has been the opposite of Imperial, especially given his predecessor’s practices.
Mess of an economy going back into recession: Um, no. Our economy is leading the world right now. Which says less about us and more about the state of the rest of the world. Because Obama’s guys (and Bush’s to be fair) were more proactive than Europe in 2007-8. And we can print our own money. And China’s miracle is slowing. And Japan has been in recession for 15 years. Russia has all kinds of structural problems. The problem isn’t danger of recession. It’s the gap between rich and poor. This isn’t a liberal whine (I’m rich and work on wall st) – Our economy is consumer-driven.. if the rich want to stay rich, they need a middle class with purchasing power to fuel the economy. This simple fact seems to elude most people for some reason.
“It’s a shame what’s become of our country in the last few years”.. what does this mean? America still leads the world in innovation, we have the largest economy by far, and we’re still the richest nation IN HISTORY. Stop with the nostalgic whining. Yes, our economy is facing a structural crisis which has been building for 30+ years. But you know what? America will adapt, as it has in the past. Obama, being non-Imperial as per the constitution, can only do so much with a non-compliant Congress. But he’s saying the right things. Which are being countered by this right-wing blather.
“So many scandals”.. really? Like which? All scandals have been ginned up. This is my opinion of course, but no one has been convicted of anything, and until that happens, it’s all political BS.
Now shut the fuck up and crawl back under your rock. Try changing the channel off Fox News to any other one. Any one. Really. There are several. And some news channels actually engage in journalism.
Phew, that felt good.
Good to know you’re an MSNBC viewer.
Actually, New York Times.
@Reason… I think you’re right! You are a person of reason.
Unfortunately Obama has been a total failure. I voted for him the first time and regret it immensely. The fundraiser fiasco is a great example of a president who is doing the only thing he knows how to do. Apparently leading is not one of them. Its a shame what has become of our country in the past few years. I really hope the next president whether democrat or republican restores some of the strength and dignity so many people have fought so hard for over the past two hundred and fifty years.
Nero fiddles…While Rome burns.
Wow!, When did the UWS get a golf course?
Tea Time! (Heh, I spelled it Tea)
Lol! You got that right deli dude! It turned when all the Suburbidiots moved in!
Keep up the hate C. Marie.
These are your neighbors you are disparaging.
Everyone came from somewhere else – no one “Owns” new york. and suburbanites usually were urbanites prior -so they might have a better claim then others.. just saying.
of course, no one is more intolerant then the libtards – sorry, but yea I went there.
@webot ..Of course no one “owns” New York. I never said anyone did. I didn’t come from anywhere but here. Born and New York City bred. Lived other places but always came back here. I’m just saying it’s the Suburb mentality that is wrong for the Upper West Side. Especially New York City!
@Goldwater.. First of all I DO NOT buy my coffee from starbucks. I buy it from a deli or those street vendors. Much more reasonable at $1.50 rather than $3.50+. And I rather like the plain coffee over any fancy pseudo ones. Second I grudgingly go to Duane Reade because others are far and few between. But went to my small local drugstore until they were forced to close. And I would watch the History channel certainly not the likes of Rachel Maddow.
Well, given the UWS is 80% hypocrite liberals (sorry for the redundancy there!), I guess we know who to blame for the “Suburbanization” of the UWS. Now finish unpacking what you just bought at Duane Reade, peel the lid off your Starbux chai latte, and flip on the Rachel Maddow show.