Cleveland, OH
North Ridgeville
By Sue Botos
Meeting President Barack Obama was memorable, but not enough for Chad O’Reilly to change his political party affiliation. The North Ridgeville resident, however, admitted he was impressed.
“After hearing him speak, my opinion of him was elevated, but I still don’t agree with all of his politics,” O’Reilly, 33, recently said by phone.
He, along with several family members, were among a group of 30 people selected a few weeks ago to meet informally with Obama in Joe and Rhonda Weithman’s backyard at their Clintonville home, near Columbus. The stop was part of a fundraiser for the Ohio Democratic Party and Gov. Ted Strickland’s re-election campaign.
The self-described Republican “black sheep” of a Democratic family, O’Reilly admitted he is “pretty conservative” and does not consider himself an Obama supporter. When his mother, Diana, called two days before the event and asked if he wanted to meet the president, the sales representative for Novartis was amused.
“I thought she was kidding,” he admitted.
O’Reilly explained Sauko and Sons, the construction company where his father, Mike, works as a foreman received federal stimulus funds and was selected as an example of the success of Obama’s program. He said his dad’s boss chose the O’Reilly family to represent the company.
“There were eight of us there, including my 1-year-old son”, O’Reilly said, adding his wife, Jennifer, was unfortunately out of town on business.
The choice of venue for the gathering was between the Weithmans’ yard and that of his parents, in the eastside Columbus suburb of Bexley.
“The logistics just worked out better (for the other home),” he said. “The guy had a small business, which was impacted by the economy, his wife was recently laid off and they have a special needs child.”
He explained the pre-screening of his parents’ home was detailed.
“It was really extensive,” he said. “They took pictures of everything, including angles from the street.”
Each person in the group was scanned with handheld metal detectors at a nearby shopping plaza and asked for
Social Security numbers and birthdates. The group waited nearly an hour for the president’s arrival, after a short walk to the backyard. O’Reilly said Obama spoke for about an hour. He said the president likened the economy to an illness that gets better with time.
“Then he hung around for about another 20 minutes for pictures and autographs,” he said, estimating his own family spent about two or three minutes one-on-one with the president.
O’Reilly said he was surprised the question-and-answer portion of the visit was totally unscripted.
“Nothing was off-limits, but he (Obama) probably figured it was a pretty friendly audience,” he commented. “He asked for one more question, and my brother couldn’t help himself.”
His brother inquired about housing reform.
“I consider myself conservative,” O’Reilly continued. “If I had the chance, I would love to ask him about immigration, but I was respectful, as was
everyone there.”
Obama came across as very down-to-earth, he said.
“He truly has an understanding of the problems facing Americans. I feel for him now. He has come into a difficult situation,” he said. “I didn’t feel arrogance (coming from him) at all. He almost went out of his way to diminish that. It was almost like he was saying ‘I’m no different than any of you guys. I just happen to be president.’ He has a gift as a public speaker.
“He was very generous with his time, and he seems to have a good sense of humor.”
That trait extended to the stereotype of politicians and babies, as Obama posed with O’Reilly and his son, as well as with the rest of the family. The day was not without its irony, however. O’Reilly said the most frequent photo used afterward by the media seemed to be him, the conservative Republican, posing with little Reese and the president.
“All those Democrats there, and we’re the ones with our picture in the paper,” he quipped.
As a footnote, O’Reilly said his mother had given the president a letter during the visit that detailed the financial situation of his uncle, who had lost his job and was trying to revise his mortgage. Within two hours, O’Reilly said, the mortgage was modified.
“It was impressive to me,” O’Reilly said, “that he would go out of his way to make this happen.”
Tags: North Ridgeville
Print this story
In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement
and discussion guidelines.