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Obama Picks Up Big Bucks In Beverly Hills and Makes Jokes At The Expense Of Protestors
* Editors Note: Point of clarification; the protesters outside the President’s speech last night were protesting his lack of support for the Gay community despite promises made during the campaign.
The state budget may be severely overdrawn, but the California political A.T.M. seems to be working just fine.
President Obama arrived at a back-to-back fund-raising dinner and concert on Wednesday night and raised $4 million for the Democratic National Committee. He basked in the glow of his Hollywood supporters and thanked them for making his candidacy possible.
“If it weren’t for you,” Mr. Obama told a celebrity-filled crowd gathered at The Beverly Hilton, “we would not be in the White House.”
There was Jamie Foxx and Marissa Tomei, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffth, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, and a long line of bold and not-so-bold names.
As Mr. Katzenberg introduced the president at his first California fund-raiser since taking office, he said: “If you look in the dictionary under ‘grace under fire,’ it will say Barack Obama.”
The California economy is bleak. The state budget is crisis. And Democrats are riled up over a Supreme Court ruling this week that upheld the ban on gay marriage.
The president did not dwell on those matters during his remarks here Wednesday evening on the only stop of his quick trip to California. He gave himself a strong grade for the opening stretch of his time in office.
“I would put these first four months up against any prior administration since F.D.R,” Mr. Obama said. Later, he added: “I’m confident in the future, but I’m not yet content.”
A gaggle of sign-waving protestors milled around outside The Beverly Hilton, the sprawling hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. They must have caught the president’s eye when he arrived at the hotel from an earlier stop in Las Vegas because he relayed one of their messages to the crowd.
“One of them said, “Obama keep your promise,’ ” the president said. “I thought that’s fair. I don’t know which promise he was talking about.”
The people in the audience – who paid $30,400 per couple to attend – laughed as they ate a dinner of roasted tenderloin, grilled organic chicken and sun choke rosemary mashed potatoes.
via Obama Rings Up Cash Among the Stars – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com.
