Dinner for Schmucks: Obama-style...

[AZGrizFan]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/ ... K820110803" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Though Obama doesn't turn 50 until Thursday, he's kicking the milestone off with a pair of events that also serve as fundraisers for his 2012 election campaign.

One, at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, will include 1,000 attendees who will shell out up to $35,800 a couple to see the likes of Herbie Hancock, Jennifer Hudson and OK Go perform. A second, more intimate soiree will be held later in the evening, with somewhere between 80 and 100 VIPs. The beleaguer Prez will attend both.

However, me thinks the bloom has come off the Obama rose:

a survey of Obama's most vocal Hollywood supporters suggest that he'll have to reach beyond his traditional circle of heavy hitters.

Obama's A-list pen-pal, Scarlett Johansson, won't be able to attend -- she's working on two films back-to-back on location, her representative tells TheWrap. Obama shouldn't feel too bad about the snub; Johansson was also forced to turn down an invitation to the Marine Corps Ball due to her schedule.

Jamie Foxx, who served as special guest at Obama's April fundraiser in Los Angeles, is likewise indisposed -- his publicist told TheWrap that he's working out of the country.

Anne Hathaway, who heaped praise on then-candidate Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention, is busy filming "The Dark Knight Rises" in Pittsburgh and is also not expected to attend -- even though it would mean a brief respite from Pittsburgh.

Oprah Winfrey? After all, the talk-show queen -- who very well might have tipped the 2008 election to Obama via her support -- hails, like Obama, from Chicago. Winfrey's publicist wasn't talking, but it's likely that Winfrey's CEO duties at the troubled OWN network might curtail her partying -- no matter how much the Leader of the Free World might deserve a Big O.

Obama's pals in the media-mogul department are similarly unavailable to help the president cut the cake. A representative for David Geffen told TheWrap that Geffen is currently out of the country, while Sony Pictures Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, in the past a donor and fundraiser for Obama, is on vacation.

Poor Obama....he's just not the magnetic attraction he was a scant 30 months ago...

[Ivytalk]

I can't think of a better way to spend $35,800, can you?

[Skjellyfetti]

Yeah, I'm sure you guys were bitching and moaning when Dubya was fundraising in 2005.

And, lol at your list of 4 people not attending. Obama's 2012 fundraising will set records all over again.

— President Barack Obama collected $86 million combined for his re-election campaign and the Democratic party during the past three months, giving him a large fundraising advantage over the Republican field seeking to challenge him in 2012.

As expected, the fundraising totals outpace Republicans, who have collectively raised about $35 million so far, although some candidates have yet to release their results. At the same time in 2007, 10 GOP presidential hopefuls had raised more than $118 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the GOP field in fundraising, pulling in more than $18 million during the past three months. An independent fundraising group supporting Romney's presidential bid has raised $12 million this year.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index. ... m_for.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AZGrizFan]

Yeah, I'm sure you guys were bitching and moaning when Dubya was fundraising in 2005.

And, lol at your list of 4 people not attending. Obama's 2012 fundraising will set records all over again.

Doesn't change the fact that they're schmucks.

[CID1990]

Yeah, I'm sure you guys were bitching and moaning when Dubya was fundraising in 2005.

And, lol at your list of 4 people not attending. Obama's 2012 fundraising will set records all over again.

— President Barack Obama collected $86 million combined for his re-election campaign and the Democratic party during the past three months, giving him a large fundraising advantage over the Republican field seeking to challenge him in 2012.

As expected, the fundraising totals outpace Republicans, who have collectively raised about $35 million so far, although some candidates have yet to release their results. At the same time in 2007, 10 GOP presidential hopefuls had raised more than $118 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the GOP field in fundraising, pulling in more than $18 million during the past three months. An independent fundraising group supporting Romney's presidential bid has raised $12 million this year.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index. ... m_for.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Never gave to W. I complained about his golfing, as well as his tee box comment a little bit, though.

Speaking of golf, Obama has played so much more golf than W, it is actually a good analogy for Obama's fundraising activities compared to W's, also.

[Ivytalk]

And all that campaign green that Felch'sGripeJelly is bragging about could support thousands of his party's beloved entitlement addicts!

[Skjellyfetti]

It's the free market at work.

Meanwhile your candidates will probably be taking public financing paid for with tax money.

[Ivytalk]

It's the free market at work.

Meanwhile your candidates will probably be taking public financing paid for with tax money.

Hey, thought you might appreciate the new moniker! Felch'sGripeJelly: it came to me in a flash of blinding insight!

Or was it just gas?

[TheDancinMonarch]

Wow! You have to give $35,000 to O'Bama to beg him to raise your taxes? Boy I'm glad I'm not rich.

[SDHornet]

Not sure why Obama needs so much money, the Repubs have yet to produce a challenger with any appeal to us middle folks.

[89Hen]

Speaking of golf, Obama has played so much more golf than W, it is actually a good analogy for Obama's fundraising activities compared to W's, also.

Yet you don't hear a lot about it. Strange.

BTW, Clinton played more than W and O combined.

[blueballs]

He's gonna' need every red cent of it too.

He can't run on his record. He can't tout leadership qualities, the economy is showing no sign of improvement, his justice department has been a disaster, he has governed from the far left, he has spent more money than any other President during the same tenure in our history, his regulatory bills are choking industries and entire sectors of the economy, and his polling numbers are steadily dropping.

The only chance he has to to mobilize his media and carpetbomb the print media and airways with negative ads, to try to tear down whoever emerges as his opponent, to repeat his lies so much that the sheeple start to or in some cases continue to believe them, and to offer excuse and blame his predecessors for his gross ineptitude.

To accomplish such a lie in direct opposition to his pitiful resume will take more money than has ever been raised and spent before.

[AZGrizFan]

He's gonna' need every red cent of it too.

He can't run on his record. He can't tout leadership qualities, the economy is showing no sign of improvement, his justice department has been a disaster, he has governed from the far left, he has spent more money than any other President during the same tenure in our history, his regulatory bills are choking industries and entire sectors of the economy, and his polling numbers are steadily dropping.

The only chance he has to to mobilize his media and carpetbomb the print media and airways with negative ads, to try to tear down whoever emerges as his opponent, to repeat his lies so much that the sheeple start to or in some cases continue to believe them, and to offer excuse and blame his predecessors for his gross ineptitude.

To accomplish such a lie in direct opposition to his pitiful resume will take more money than has ever been raised and spent before.

Frighteningly true in all aspects.

[Ivytalk]

He's gonna' need every red cent of it too.

He can't run on his record. He can't tout leadership qualities, the economy is showing no sign of improvement, his justice department has been a disaster, he has governed from the far left, he has spent more money than any other President during the same tenure in our history, his regulatory bills are choking industries and entire sectors of the economy, and his polling numbers are steadily dropping.

The only chance he has to to mobilize his media and carpetbomb the print media and airways with negative ads, to try to tear down whoever emerges as his opponent, to repeat his lies so much that the sheeple start to or in some cases continue to believe them, and to offer excuse and blame his predecessors for his gross ineptitude.

To accomplish such a lie in direct opposition to his pitiful resume will take more money than has ever been raised and spent before.

Candidate for Poli Board POTY.

[CitadelGrad]

He's gonna' need every red cent of it too.

He can't run on his record. He can't tout leadership qualities, the economy is showing no sign of improvement, his justice department has been a disaster, he has governed from the far left, he has spent more money than any other President during the same tenure in our history, his regulatory bills are choking industries and entire sectors of the economy, and his polling numbers are steadily dropping.

The only chance he has to to mobilize his media and carpetbomb the print media and airways with negative ads, to try to tear down whoever emerges as his opponent, to repeat his lies so much that the sheeple start to or in some cases continue to believe them, and to offer excuse and blame his predecessors for his gross ineptitude.

To accomplish such a lie in direct opposition to his pitiful resume will take more money than has ever been raised and spent before.

Either that or he'll keep repeating, "Hey, I killed bin Laden."