ANDREA GALABINSKI Local residents Paris Frantz, with David Casali and his daughter Samantha Nicole, offered their impressions on meeting President Obama.

Two North Fort Myers residents not only got the privilege of seeing President Barrack Obama in his recent Fort Myers Town Hall meeting, one got to shake the president’s hand.

North Fort Myers resident David Casali has now been unemployed for over four months, trained and experienced in computer sign design with a computer graphics background. He’s been waiting daily on calls from local businesses, where he’s been applying to try and find a job.

“I’ve been in the sign business for 25 years and I can’t find a job in my trade, much less at McDonald’s,” he said.

He said he was told by managers at the local fast food restaurant they receive anywhere from 50 to 150 applications daily.

He also applied at the local Wal-Mart and has not heard anything back from the company.

“We’re all victims of this economy,” he said. “My typical conversation with friends used to be ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ Now, it’s ‘Do you have a job?'”

Casali and friend Paris Frantz had the fortune of getting tickets to see the president in his recent visit with a long, early wait in line, because they are both unemployed. But they both say it was a life experience they will never forget.

Casali said he was stunned when he got to shake the president’s hand when he was coming into the venue.

“I can’t believe I got to shake his hand,” Casali said. “And he looked you straight in the eye when he did it.”

It was an honor, he said, to meet the new president.

“The last thing I thought I would do last week was to meet him,” he continued. “I got a real sense of security from seeing him. One of the highlights was when he was handed a piece of paper which he read. He was told the Senate passed his stimulus package. We were the first to hear it. For him being in the presidency for only 23-odd days, he’s making accomplishments.”

Casali said the crowd could not be more receptive to the visit.

“From the comments I heard, I believe he’s going to hold the government more accountable for it’s choices,” he said. “He said he wants more bills that will help people right now, rather than meaningless programs.”

He and Frantz were bombarded by journalists after Casali was one-on-one with the president for that brief moment. Local TV news and NBC’s Today Show all asked questions about the handshake and their impressions.

“NBC in particular asked if we thought the bailout concerning bankers and big bonuses was fair,” said Frantz. “I said no. These people are making out on our misfortune with this economy.”

Her other observation was that Obama would focus on creating jobs. Unemployed for several months herself, she said that was welcome news.

“I feel he is going to create jobs,” she said.

“He talked specifically about converting the medical system to an electronic system, that would create lot of needed jobs,” said Casali.

Casali’s main recollection of the event was how comfortable Obama made the crowd feel about his future endeavors.

“One thing that made me feel comfortable was the fact that he wants everybody – Republican and and Democrats – to be a community,” he said.

Both are looking for work, and put out a plea to the community. Casali again is a computer sign artist with a graphic background, and Frantz said. “I’ll take anything – waitress, cook or clerk.”

Casali said the same.

Both reiterated on how impressed they were with our new president.

“He speaks layman terms – plain English,” said Casali. “We’re just regular people, and we felt he answered the questions we wanted to know.”