While in New York for a series of fundraisers, President Barack Obama mocked Senate candidate and current U.S. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri for his remarks about a woman's body being able to avoid pregnancy during what Akin called a "legitimate rape.''
Obama told a group of donors that the Republican congressman from Missouri "somehow missed science class'' even though he sits on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Obama says Akin's remarks are representative of what Obama called "the desire to go backwards instead of forwards and fight fights that we thought were settled 20 or 30 years ago.''
Akin has refused calls from within the GOP to drop his bid to challenge Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. He made the remarks in a TV interview last Sunday while defending his opposition to abortion in all circumstances.
The president also set aside for some hoops during his New York trip.
Fundraising with the help of current and former National Basketball Association stars, Obama told a small group of donors gathered Wednesday night at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center that the current campaign is like the final minutes of a basketball contest with his team up by a few points
"But the other side is coming strong," Obama said. "And they play a little dirty. We've got a few folks on our team in foul trouble. We have a couple of injuries. And I believe they have one last run in them."
Obama raised $3 million with the help of the players, who included former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan and former Knicks Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. NBA Commissioner David Stern also was there.
Invoking Jordan's competitive nature, Obama concluded: "If you have seven minutes to go and you have a little bit of a lead, that's when you put them away."
The players were part a day long fundraiser. Earlier, former and current players participated in a $250 per person autograph session and in a skills camp priced at for $5,000 for two people.
"It is very rare that I come to an event where I'm like the fifth or sixth most interesting person," Obama joked at the Lincoln Center dinner.
Later, Obama changed out of his dark suit to shoot baskets with some of the players out of sight of the press. Obama, an avid basketball fan and a player, made a splash during his 2008 campaign by sinking a 3-point shot while visiting troops in Kuwait. His most recent star-studded game, also played in private, featured actors George Clooney and Tobey Maguire.
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