Buffalo Welcomes President Obama - May 13, 2010

President Barack Obama visited Buffalo, NY this past week , on his

"White House to Main Street Tour" which started in December. He has visited Allentown, Pa., Charlotte, N.C., Savannah, Ga., and Quincy, Ill. He will travel to Youngstown, Ohio next.

For most of us it was our first glimpse of Air Force One and it is certainly impressive

His arrival was at 12:25 p.m. and departure at 3:20 p.m.

He would only be here for three hours and the entire community was abuzz about where he would appear and what he would do while he was here.

While at the airport the president met with the families of the victims of Flight 3407 - the plane that crashed in Buffalo last year. They appealed to him to support the stricter aviation regulation laws regarding the training of pilots and other suggestions for making air travel safer for all. The families later reported that he stated he will support them on this.

It rained the entire time that he was here but Buffalonians were not daunted by this.

Many stood in the rain for the entire visit, hoping to catch a glimpse of him as his vehicle passed them along the highways.

There were staunch supporters in the crowd - many holding 'thank you' signs

And others who wished to let President Obama know that they are against the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the new policies in Arizona which are viewed as singling out immigrants. The signs urged President Obama to support immigration reform.

(photos by Leslie Church - WBFO)

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While here the President met in private with the Families of Flight 3407. He was then whisked away to have a fast lunch at a local Buffalo wings restaurant where the locals were happily surprised when he arrived and were able to talk to him and wish him well.

His final stop was at a small local business, President Obama spoke with workers at Industrial Support, Inc., a manufacturing company.

The President has said he believes the success of small businesses will be vital to the nation's economic recovery. Last week, he sent Congress a proposal to create a $30 billion support program to unfreeze credit for small businesses.

President Obama said he has asked the Small Business Administration to become more proactive in helping small business owners, or those who want to start small businesses, get the training they need to be competitive.

Help for small businesses would be especially welcome in cities like Buffalo, where large corporations have downsized and manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas. Western New York has suffered for a long time from a lack of job growth and population losses.

Buffalo's Industrial Support, Inc. added workers last fall after receiving a loan offered to small businesses through the President's $862 billion stimulus plan. That type of success, President Obama said, makes him "want to double-down and work harder."

Kudos to the police from Buffalo and surrounding counties who were assigned to road closures, crowd control and to protect the President while he was here in town.

President Obama was here for only three hours, which gave us a glimpse of his very busy schedule. Everyone that I heard talk about it was enthusiastic about the visit. Whether one agrees with everything he says or not - the President of the United States was given a very warm welcome during his brief stay in Buffalo, and for that I am very glad.

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