AURORA — President Barack Obama touched down at Buckley Air Force Base today for the third time since September, but unlike past visits he won’t be leaving the premises during a pit stop that is expected to last less than two hours.
Air Force One landed at 2:33 p.m. and taxied to the front of Hangar 909 where the President and small army of advisers, security and press deplaned.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock also greeted the president, who was joined by Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in welcoming the president. Also present was Assistant Secretary of Defense for energy planning, Sharon Burke.
Obama’s reception on the tarmac at Buckley on a bluebird day was far more cordial than the icy greeting he received in Phoenix yesterday from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.
Politico reported that the two exchanged “heated sentiments” over Brewer’s depiction of an Oval Office meeting with the President in her recently released book.
But the visit did attract protesters.
Matt Wright, 32, an Occupy Denver protester who says he supported and even campaigned for Obama in 2008, waved signs with 10 others across the street from the Buckley gates.
“He’s going to fly into a secure military base and speak only to the media and a few soldiers,” Wright said. “It’s a stark contrast to four years ago when Obama was doing rallies in front of thousands — everybody happy to see him, everybody believing in his message.”
“He can’t go in front of large crowds because people are disappointed in what he’s done.”
The President’s brief Aurora visit is the fourth stop in a three-day, post-State of the Union address swing through five key 2012 election battleground states which began yesterday in a small manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
From Iowa, Obama traveled to Arizona where spoke to a crowd at Intel Corp. in Chandler before journeying to Las Vegas last night. Earlier today he spoke about domestic energy production in front of a UPS facility before departing for Colorado.
For today’s closed speech, the President has invited a select group of active-duty military, students from local clean-energy programs and other area energy stakeholders.
The President is expected to unfurl an “all of the above” clean energy initiative that among other things includes the opening of public lands for clean-energy private investments, spurring the military to go green and doling out tax incentives to the domestic clean-energy sector.
End-to-end the President’s visit is expected to last less than two hours. Air Force One is expected to be back in the air bound for Detroit—his final stop before returning to Washington D.C.—just before 4 p.m.
Weston Gentry: 303-954-1054 or wgentry@denverpost.com or twitter.com/westongentry
