SAN FRANCISCO — President Barack Obama is waiting for the Republican presidential field to narrow itself down Survivor-style before he starts paying attention to the contenders running to replace him, he said.
“I’m going to wait until everybody is voted off the island,” Obama said, referring to the popular reality show.
Obama made the crack in an appearance on NBC’s Tonight Show, his fourth appearance on Jay Leno’s show, his second as sitting president. Obama taped the appearance in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning before he headed to San Francisco to raise money for his re-election campaign.
In excerpts released ahead of the show’s airing Tuesday night, Obama also tackled more serious matters, including the killing last week of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Gadhafi had his chance to loosen his 40-year grip on power and peacefully transition to democracy, the president said.
“We gave him ample opportunity, and he wouldn’t do it,” he said.
“I think it obviously sends a strong message around the world to dictators that people long to be free, and they need to respect the human rights and the universal aspirations of people.”
When asked about GOP opposition to his decision not to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the end of this year, Obama said: “It’s shocking that they opposed something I proposed.”
The president also tackled questions about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the National Basketball League lockout and his favorite junk food during the interview.
Obama’s appearance came in the midst of a three-day West Coast swing heavily focused on raising money for his 2012 campaign.
In San Francisco, Obama was to speak at a money event featuring a performance by folk rock singer-songwriter Jack Johnson. He also had fundraisers scheduled in Denver.
On Monday night, Obama joined actor Will Smith and basketball’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson at a dinner at the home of producer James Lassiter. Then he mingled with Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas over canapes at the movie star couple’s home a few blocks away.
The Western tour is one of Obama’s busiest fund raising trips of the season.
California ranks as Obama’s top donor state, and he raised about $1 million in the Los Angeles area alone during the last two fund raising quarters, according to an Associated Press review of contributions of more than $200.
Addressing donors in Los Angeles, Obama ticked off his administration’s accomplishments.
“Sometimes I think people forget how much has gotten done,” the president said.He urged his backers to rally once again, at the same time joking, as he often does, that he is older and grayer now. “This election won’t be as sexy as the first one.”
At the home of Banderas and Griffith, Obama told about 120 mostly Hispanic contributors that he has kept a list of his campaign promises and that, by his count, he has accomplished about 60 percent of them.
“I’m pretty confident we can get the other 40 percent done in the next five years,” he said to loud applause.
The Griffith-Banderas event was Obama’s first Hispanic fundraiser, with donors giving at least $5,000 per person to attend. It featured guests such as actress Eva Longoria, comedian George Lopez, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and mayors Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Julian Castro of San Antonio.
Obama drew the loudest applause when he vowed to tackle an overhaul of immigration laws, a promise from2008 that has gone unfulfilled in the face of Republican opposition.
Also Tuesday, Obama urged federally funded community health centers across the U.S. to create about 8,000 jobs for veterans over the next three years.
The administration also announced plans to increase programs to help military medics become physician assistants by giving priority grants to colleges and universities that train veterans for such careers.
There are more than 8,000 community health centers that offer primary care to low-income groups, and the plan would create jobs for about one veteran in each center.
The centers, units of the Department of Health and Human Services, hire doctors and nurse as well as physician assistants, outreach workers, managers and patient-support staff, according to Mary Wakefield, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Information for this article was contributed from San Francisco by Jim Kuhnhenn and from Washington by Jack Gillum of The Associated Press and from Washington by Roger Runningen of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/26/2011