Obama’s Love Affair with Tinsel Town

Alicia Powe | June 26, 2012
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Mitt Romney raised more money in the month of May than President Obama—quite an impressive feat for a challenger, and quite a blow to a President formerly renowned for his fundraising prowess. Sensing danger, the Obama Team is soaking up as much Hollywood cash as possible, attending a never-ending tour of celebrity-packed  fundraisers in Hollywood and New York—and soon Miami—as the President tries to rake in as much cash as he can from intellectually challenged but fabulously wealthy left-wing celebrities

"We need you to panic NOW!" wrote Cookie Parker of the Obama campaign in an e-mail that hit showbiz inboxes in early June, urging recipients to commit to giving or raising "$1,000 each month until the election." 

George Clooney hosted a dinner at his California home, which brought in $15 million for the president's campaign last month. Notable attendees included Robert Downey Jr., Billy Crystal, Jack Black, Salma Hayek and Tobey Maguire. The total take from the dinner was  $15 million.

Last week the president and first lady Michelle Obama visited the home of actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick for a $40,000-a-plate dinner fundraiser. The intimate dinner raised at least $2 million for Obama's re-election efforts.

The fundraiser was part of the “Dinner With Barack” series, an online lottery that allows  Obama supporters to win the opportunity to dine with the Commander-in-Chief and at the homes of Clooney or Parker.

Nationally broadcast campaign ads called for people to enter a drawing to join Obama next week for an event at the New York City celebrity home of Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick.

Parker sent an e-mail to supporters promising the evening would be "fabulous."

Obama, who recently attended his 150th fundraiser—more than the number of fundraisers attended by the last four presidents combined—told his celebrity fan-base that they would play a critical role in an election that would determine a vision for the nation’s future.  “You’re the tie breaker,” the  President Obama told Manhattans elite entertainers, “You’re the ultimate arbiter of which direction this country goes. ”

The President thinks actors and other celebrities are the ultimate arbiters of which direction the country moves in? Just so we’re clear, here’s the definition of “arbiter”:

ar·bi·ter

[ahr-bi-ter] noun

1. a person empowered to decide matters at issue; judge; umpire.

2. a person who has the sole or absolute power of judging or determining.

I’m sure it’s reassuring to the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed or struggling to pay their mortgage that the President has placed decision making authority in the hands of elitist multi-millionaires who make a living acting and singing. Could the President be more out of touch?

 

The President and Mrs. Obama  then attended a second star-list fundraiser at The Plaza which included a performance by pop icon Mariah Carey and remarks by singer Alicia Keys. The event yielded the Obama campaign at least $2.5 million.

 

Apparently not all Obama supporters are drinking the celebrity flavored Kool-Aid, and some are understandably worried about how Obama’s extravagant Hollywood fundraisers might be perceived by the average American struggling to get by. Some of the president's most ardent entertainment industry supporters told The Hollywood Reporter that while they realize he needs to deploy all of his weapons to compete with deep-pocketed Republican super PACs, they “fear the increasing reliance on stars and celebrity contests could backfire with swing voters and mobilize the right.”


"After he took office, he ignored everyone here, and now we feel like we're being used,” gripes one L.A. donor.

"We don't like what he's doing, but we understand it," said another Hollywood fundraising insider. "He has to raise the money. It's a bad situation."

"It's a mistake," a veteran Hollywood exec says flatly of the event, which the Drudge Report headlined "Checks in the City." The exec adds: "He's supposed to be a man of the people, and he's hanging out with Anna Wintour? Is he trying to turn the election into a celebrity reality show?"

Conservatives quickly pounced, with Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus writing a column on Breitbart.com titled "Out-of-touch Obama Is in Wintour Wonderland,” while conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called the president "Barack Hussein Kardashian" on Tuesday, saying the president was out of touch with ordinary Americans who are struggling in a depressed economy.

Pressed about Obama's relationship with the stars, White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, fired back: "Two words. Donald Trump. Next question?"

So far, Obama has had some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry perform at his fundraisers—men and women who make more in one year than most people do in a lifetime—and the Obama campaign is far from finished milking Hollywood.

An online contest is underway that allows donor-participants to name the celebrity they'd like to join for dinner with the president, and Obama will appear onstage in Miami at a benefit concert with singer Marc Anthony on June 26. Another online contest offers backstage passes to that event (with an entry form in English and Spanish, reflecting the President’s push to woo Latino voters as he tries to win Florida).

Like it or not, Hollywood’s unmitigated liberal propaganda helps shape public perception of culture and politics. The entertainment industry is arguably as powerful as the liberal news media, because it reaches millions of people who otherwise do not pay close attention to the news.  Hollywood executives, producers and actors are aligned with liberals in government and help forward the leftist agenda.

How can conservatives compete with the left’s monopoly on the entertainment industry? Will we ever see TV shows and movies with a pro-American, pro-free enterprise, pro-family values message?


Do Americans really want their country “arbitrated” by uniformed, egocentric divas?

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