Obama departs Dallas after short visit at Highland Park fundraiser [The Dallas Morning News]

Aug. 10--AUSTIN -- Speaking at a Democratic fund-raiser this afternoon, President Barack Obama slapped at two well-known Texas Republicans without mentioning either by name: George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor in the White House, and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, who could chair the House energy committee if Republicans regain control of the House.

Obama addressed more than 200 supporters crowded into a ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel.

He said tauntingly that only idea Republicans have to fix the economy is to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

"They know they messed up," he said. "And they know that we [Democrats] pulled the country out of the problems we were in. But they figure, 'He's been in office long enough. ... Maybe they'll forget that actually, this was the result of our [Republican] economic policies.' "

He added: "We have spent the last 20 months governing. They have spent the last 20 months politicking. We can politick for three months. They've forgotten I can politick pretty good."

As for Barton, Obama said, "He apologized to BP. Said I'm sorry. I'm sorry the president shook you down. I think he may have added in there 'Chicago' shakedown. ... Apologized to BP, because we decided we needed to hold a company accountable for the environmental devastation and the economic devastation.

I don't think he was even thinking about the next election. I don't know what he was thinking about."

Obama was referring to a roundly criticized statement that Barton made (and later retracted) in June. The Texas Republican said Obama's push for BP to establish a $20 billion escrow account for damages related to the Gulf Coast oil spill amounted to a "shakedown" and a "slush fund." He apologized to the British oil giant for the president's action.

Obama is to visit Dallas after Austin.

After the fund-raiser at the Four Seasons, the president spoke at the University of Texas. His subject: The importance of higher education to a strong national economy.

At UT, he reminisced about his visit to Austin in February 2007, two weeks after announcing his candidacy, when 20,000 or so supporters came to see him at Auditorium Shores. He recalled a stadium tour with Longhorns football coach Mack Brown.

And he pitched a vision of economic growth that hinges largely on the competitive edge that higher education provides.

"We are not a country that plays for second place. We are the United States of America, and we play for first," he said.

Yet, in the last generation, the United States has fallen from first to 12th in college graduation rates.

"That's unacceptable, but not irreversible," Obama said. "...We need to retake the lead. If we're serious about making sure America's workers, and America itself, succeed in the 21st Century, the single most important step we can take is to offer all our kids -- here in Austin, here in Texas, and across this country -- the best education the world has to offer."

To loud cheers, he said: "Education is an economic issue. Education is the economic issue of our time."

To make federal funding for student loans go further, Democrats pushed through legislation that cut out banks and other financial institutions that acted as middlemen, Obama told the UT crowd, saving $60 billion despite the best efforts of "lobbyists and a minority party" -- that is, the Republicans -- united in their support of an outrageous status quo."

Earlier, upon landing in Austin, Obama chatted briefly with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, a vocal critic of the president and his policies.

The president and governor shook hands warmly and stood face to face for 20 or 30 seconds. Obama clasped his right arm.

Then, as the president moved down the line to other greeters -- Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, state Sen. Kirk Watson and state Rep. Mark Strama -- Perry pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to White House counselor Valerie Jarrett , who came down the stairs behind the president with Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative and former Dallas mayor.

The letter from Perry asked the president to recognize the urgent circumstances on the border with Mexico and to send 1,000 additional troops -- on top of the 286 promised by the administration -- to combat gangs, drugs, and human trafficking.

"The deployment of just 286 National Guard personnel along the 1,200 mile Texas-Mexico border is clearly insufficient," the letter said.

Obama was introduced at the Four Seasons by Linda Chavez-Thompson, a national vice chair of the Democratic Party and the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor.

She took a few swipes at Perry and her election opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

"You'll hear them say we have a balanced budget in Texas, or we have money in the bank. What the Republican leadership in Texas doesn't tell you is they balanced that budget with $15 billion in federal stimulus money," she said.

She added that since Perry and Dewhurst, in keeping with Texas' "macho side," refused to thank Obama, she would do it for them: "Thank you, Mr. President"

Obama gave shout-outs to Kirk, lauding the job he's been doing as trade ambassador. And, he said, "more importantly Ambassador Ron Kirk's mom is here."

He also took note of Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, calling him a "wonderful congressman."

He spoke fondly of returning to Austin.

"I like the people. I like the food. I like the music. I like that there are a bunch of Democrats here. It's wonderful," he said.

He blasted Republicans for being, as he portrayed it, devoid of ideas and solutions other than those discredited the last time Republicans were in power.

Before Obama's arrival in Texas, aides downplayed his plans to chat briefly with Perry about border security. They also dismissed a decision by Perry's November election opponent, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White, to remain far from Obama during the president's one-day visit.

"He definitely does not take that as an insult," White House spokesman Bill Burton insisted aboard Air Force One en route to Austin.

White, the former mayor of Houston, said he was honoring longstanding campaign commitments today to be in Midland, Abilene, and Johnson County while Obama will visit Austin and Dallas.

White said that if the president wanted to talk, he was welcome to pick up a phone.

That's not going to happen, said Burton. "There are no plans to call him, no."

Perry began clapping when Obama emerged from the doorway of Air Force One.

"I've been to probably a hundred of these," Burton said from 30 feet away. "That's the first time I've seen a governor applaud."

Perry and Kirk shook hands and then engaged in a bear hug. They, too, chatted beyond the earshot of reporters.

Obama then circled back for one last word and handshake with Perry before striding to his waiting limo. Kirk got in the other side.

Less than two minutes elapsed between Obama's deplaning and a Secret Service agent's shutting his limo door.

Perry and other Republicans have argued that more troops and Border Patrol agents are needed as Mexico's drug war rages.

Burton defended the administration's response to border concerns.

"For starters, the president has put more assets on the border to secure the border than has ever previously been there. That includes National Guard troops, technology. Things he's done on enforcement. It's something he's working very hard on," Burton said.

At UT, students were lined up outside Gregory Gym hours before Obama's speech. The gym seats about 4,000.