President Barack Obama will stop by Laguna Beach for a fundraiser on his way to give UC Irvine's 50th anniversary commencement address in a Southern California swing that is bookended by a Palm Springs getaway with his wife Michelle.
]
Barack Obama UC Irvine Commencement Protest Part Deux: This Time It's the Birfers
Here's how the trip breaks down, according to the Democratic National Committee:
– After the Obamas visit an Indian reservation in North Dakota on Friday, they will travel on to Palm Springs.
– Early Saturday morning, the president first heads to the coast to attend a roundtable discussion at an undisclosed location in Laguna Beach where about 25 supporters will have contributed up to $32,400 each for the privilege.
– Later Saturday, Barry moves on to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, where Obama delivers the “Special All-Graduate Commencement Ceremony” address for UCI students and their guests, who start arriving at 6:30 a.m., although the program does not officially start until 11:30 a.m. Separate graduation ceremonies for individual schools on campus will have been held before and after Saturday. Fifty years ago, then-President Lyndon Johnson spoke at UCI's dedication ceremony.
– Obama will leave Anaheim to reunite with his wife at their undisclosed getaway location in the Palm Springs area. It's unclear whether the girls will be with mom and dad.
It will be Obama's third visit to the desert oasis during his presidency (that we know of, heh-heh …). He met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in February at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, which is the same place the president met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in June 2013. Obama played golf with friends during both weekends.
This is apparently Michelle Obama's first time back to the Coachella Valley since she attended former first lady Betty Ford's memorial service in Palm Desert in July 2011.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.