Obama says there is work to be done

President Barack Obama, left, delivers remarks at Gen44 fundraiser event at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, Thursday, April 21, 2011. On the right is a member of the US Secret Service. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CULVER CITY - Preaching the theme that his work is not yet finished, President Barack Obama told a crowd of supporters Thursday night at Sony Pictures Studios that he needs their help to protect the changes he has begun to make in Washington, D.C., by propelling him to another term.

Obama told the crowd of about 2,500 that he has shared their frustration at the pace of changes he promised to make during his 2008 campaign, but he rattled off what he believed were his successes and his belief that the country is moving in the right direction.

"We knew that on a journey like this there were going to be setbacks, there were gonna be detours," he said. "There were gonna be times where we stumbled and we had to get up and dust ourselves off and then keep going. Because we knew that at each and every juncture in our history, when the future was on the line, when we were at the crossroads like we are now, the country somehow came together.

"The country somehow found a way to make ourselves more prosperous and deal with the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy and then to an information economy. We figured out how to absorb new immigrants and finally deal with the stain of slavery, make sure that women were full participants in our democracy. | Click here to see photo gallery.

"At every juncture, we've been

able to make the changes that we need. So when you hear people say our problems are too big or we can't bring about the changes that we seek, I want you to think about all the progress we've already made and I want you to think about all the unfinished business that lies ahead. I want you to be excited about the next 18 months and then the next four years after that, and I want you to remind everybody else those simple words that summed up our campaign in 2008 and still sum up our spirit - yes we can."

The president landed at Los Angeles International Airport about 2:30 p.m. for his sixth visit to the Los Angeles area since taking office and his fourth exclusively for fundraising.

Obama attended a pair of fundraisers at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. The first was a dinner with about 50 people at the studio commissary, with tickets costing $35,800 each.

The second event was at a studio sound stage, with tickets priced at $250 for general admission, $2,500 for VIP seating and $100 for those under 40. The sound stage was used for films including "Men in Black 2," "Iron Man 2" and the upcoming "Spider-Man 4."

Obama told the crowd that he was moving his campaign headquarters out of Washington, D.C., and back to Chicago because he wanted his campaign to have a renewed perspective.

"I don't want our campaign to be hearing only from pundits and power brokers and lobbyists," he said. "I want our campaign to be hearing from the folks that got me into the Oval Office. I want them hearing from you. ... I want to make sure we are putting the campaign in your hands."

Obama later spoke at a fundraiser at the Tavern restaurant in Brentwood, with tickets also costing $35,800.

All proceeds from the events will go to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint account of the Democratic National Committee and Obama for America, his campaign committee.

For the $35,800 ticket, the campaign gets the first $5,000 - the maximum $2,500 contribution for the primary season and another $2,500 for the general election campaign. The $30,800 is the maximum an individual can give to a campaign committee in a year.

As is typical with presidential visits, protests were held.

A group of Armenian-Americans gathered outside Sony Studios, calling upon Obama to honor his pledge to appropriately recognize the Armenian Genocide and visit the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Memorial in Montebello, according to Rostom Sarkissian, a senior adviser to the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles also staged a rally outside the studio to remind Obama "of his pledge to update immigration laws," said Jorge-Mario Calbrera, the group's director of communications & public affairs.

Several groups, including the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and Code Pink, protested federal budget cuts and U.S. involvement in the uprising in Libya, according to Ian Thompson of the ANSWER Coalition.

The Los Angeles-area appearances were part of a West Coast swing by Obama, primarily for fundraising.

The trip began Wednesday in Northern California, where he participated in a town hall meeting on deficit reduction at the Palo Alto headquarters of the social networking website Facebook and spoke at two fundraisers in San Francisco.

Obama began Thursday with a third fundraiser in San Francisco, then flew to Reno, Nev., for another deficit-reduction town hall meeting.

"It looks like the president prefers campaigning over providing the leadership that America needs to get back on track," California Republican Party communications director Mark Standriff told City News Service.

"We've got a campaign ATM in California that will see the president have six fundraisers in a 48-hour period, where's he estimated to take in over $4 million.

"It seems to me rather than ramp up his re-election campaign a year and a half out ... he should be back in Washington, D.C., dealing with the issues that Californians and Americans all over the county are worried about."

Obama was set to leave Los Angeles on Friday morning.

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