Words from President Barack Obama are seen on a construction beam after he signed it while touring the One World Trade Center. (REUTERS)
Chris Christie, Andrew Cuomo and President Obama, along with First Lady Michelle and Mayor Bloomberg, met with ironworkers to discuss 1 World Trade Center Thursday. (Lois Weiss)
President Obama’s motorcade arriving at the home of Sarah Jessica Parker for a campaign fundraiser Thursday. (Christopher Sadowski)
Aretha Franklin attended an Obama fundraiser hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker. (Byron Smith)
Meryl Streep leaving President Obama’s campaign fundraiser at the home of Sarah Jessica Parker. (Christopher Sadowski)
Mariah Carey performing at a Thursday fund-raiser for President Obama. (Twitter.com/rdiamond)
Andy Cohen leaving President Obama’s campaign fundraiser at the home of Sarah Jessica Parker Thursday. (Christopher Sadowski)
President Obama made a pit stop at the World Trade Center yesterday before attending two glitzy fund-raisers to boost his re-election effort.
Obama — joined by Gov. Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mayor Bloomberg and surrounded by construction workers — signed a steel beam that will be used to top off 1 World Trade in a few weeks.
“We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger! Barack Obama,” the president wrote in red ink amid applause.
Bloomberg wrote, “Stay Safe.”
Before the beam-signing ceremony, Obama visited the 22nd floor of 1 World Trade, along with the governors and Port Authority officials. They gazed out the windows, looking at the 9/11 Memorial, 4 World Trade and the Hudson River.
The president, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, marveled at the views.
“It’s beautiful,” he said.
He spoke particularly of the emotional impact of the memorial’s waterfalls.
“You don’t expect how powerful it is until you go down there and hear the sound of it,” Obama told Cuomo and Christie.
The president joked with a group of ironworkers about the famous photo of laborers having lunch on a beam during the construction of the Empire State Building.
He then looked out the windows again. “I’m glad they opened the streets back up. When I lived in Manhattan in the ’80s, down here, nothing was here.”
For his part, Cuomo boasted how the buildings downtown are mixed — residential as well as office space. He recalled a time when after work, “everyone just went home” and the area was desolate.
The mood was civil and relaxed as Obama exchanged laughs with Christie, a Republican and chief ally and attack dog of the president’s GOP rival, Mitt Romney.
After signing the beam, Obama thanked everyone for building an “incredible structure” and added, “We couldn’t be prouder of you guys. This is what the American spirit is all about.”
The president shook hands with dozens of hard hats.
He hugged a female construction worker, Basilkah “Silky” Williams, drawing cheers. She wore a Barack Obama shirt and the first lady came over and said, “Woman in construction.”
Williams was moved by the ceremony. “It is awesome knowing what we are doing here is bringing back history,” she said.
Obama, giving a thumbs-up to the workers, said, “It feels pretty good watching this go up. Good job. Keep it up.”
The beam he signed was 28 feet long and weighs 6.5 tons.
It was Obama’s third visit to the WTC in the last two years. He visited the 9/11 Memorial last May after Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. He also attended the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The White House asked the Port Authority for a tour of site before attending glitzy re-election fund-raisers in the city.
The expected haul from Obama’s two fund-raisers last night was $4.5 million.
He sped from the WTC to Sarah Jessica Parker’s fund-raiser at her West Village townhouse, co-hosted by Anna Wintour.
The Obama campaign also announced a raffle winner for a ticket to the “New York Night” SJP bash. Anyone who donated at least $3 was eligible.
The winner was Robin Hunter, a project administrator at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a native of Salem, NC. Hunter brought her mom, Elvita, as her guest.
Soul legend Aretha Franklin, who attended the SJP fund-raiser, said there was a good vibe. She said she bumped into Beyoncé’s sister, Solange Knowles.
Obama and 50 other guests munched on chicken with mustard sauce and tomatoes.
Tickets for that event cost $40,000 per person, according to a campaign official.
Others said to be in attendance include Vera Wang, Kenneth Cole, Olivia Wilde, Meryl Streep, Tiffany chief Michael Kowalski and Sandra Lee, without her significant other, Gov. Cuomo.
Work crews were busy all week prepping the townhouse Parker shares with actor hubby Matthew Broderick. But Wintour has been in charge of the interior designing.
From there, Obama scooted uptown to another fund-raiser at The Plaza hotel, an event co-hosted by Newark Mayor Cory Booker and “Sex the City” series creator Darren Star. Pop star Mariah Carey performed.
Tickets for the event were $10,000 per person. with 250 guests expected.
Booker’s presence showed that he has patched things up with the president after coming under fire for making statements in a TV interview about private equity that undercut Obama’s attacks on Romney.
Obama is struggling to keep up with Romney in the fund-raising race. Romney’s ability to challenge Obama’s legendary fund-raising prowess is doubly painful to the president because he’s also been lagging in the super PAC money race.
Additional reporting by Josh Margolin and Kirsten Fleming
