Pit Stop in NO to placate Katrina victims on the way to SF for gala fund raiser
By LisaB on October 17, 2009 at 5:00 PM in Current Affairs
City Square has a short piece and lots of pics about Obama protesters in San Fran. Apparently it was a mixed bag of protesters, but most were still tea partiers.
Obama was there for a fundraiser, where guests contributed $34,000 per couple. Clearly, the penny groundlings were left outside. According to Politico, Obama continued to press the “inherited” mantra.
President Barack Obama addressed an adoring crowd of supporters at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in San Francisco Thursday evening, where he told the assembled that “When I’m busy, and Nancy’s busy, with a mop cleaning up somebody else’s mess, we don’t want somebody sitting back saying, ‘you’re not holding the mop the right way’ … ‘you’re not mopping fast enough’ … ‘that’s a socialist mop.’”
“Grab a mop. We need help.”
Obama, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel here after visiting New Orleans earlier in the day, addressed a small group of donors at an intimate dinner for 160, and then moved several floors downstairs to a larger ballroom, where he addressed a sold-out crowd of about 900 attendees. The singer Tracy Chapman warmed up the ballroom crowd with her 1988 hit, “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution.”
Revolution? Of whom? People who can afford $34K just to eat with Obama? That’s his revolutionaries? I thought that was GWB’s base. Well what about Obama’s supposed base? What about the people he promised to help many times during his campaign – Katrina victims?
Obama arrived in CA after making a four hour stop in New Orleans. Four. Hours. Four. The Week had a short bit.
As a candidate and senator, President Obama visited New Orleans five times, said Peter Baker and Campbell Robertson in The New York Times. So there was some “frustration and impatience” in the city that it took him nine months to visit as president. Thursday’s four-hour stop was meant to assure locals that, despite the “backlog of problems” he inherited, he “would not forget about New Orleans.”
Again with the inheritance. But I’m sure NO appreciated BO’s need to jet off to San Francisco to meet with a small, exclusive group and to later speak to a larger one. Back to Politico:
Guests at the dinner contributed $34,000 per couple, and tickets for the main event ranged between $500 and $1,000. The DNC expects to have raised about $3 million in total.
Taking to a small stage by himself and without a teleprompter, Obama joked, “I am not going to spoil a good dinner with a long speech.” Turning to Pelosi, he said, “Everybody has a story about Nancy’s kindness … I just want to say a little something about her toughness.”
“Day in and day out, she faces down some of the toughest problems,” the president said. “She doesn’t break a sweat.”
“I love Nancy Pelosi,” he said.
——-
He sought to reassure the dinner attendees that Washington was making progress. “If we stopped today, this legislative session would have been one of the most productive in a generation,” he said. “I hope that all of you guys understand that we’re just getting started.”————–
A quick elevator ride downstairs, Pelosi again introduced Obama, this time to the larger audience. “Barack Obama is in the house,” she said. She again said she wanted to introduce the crowd to Obama, because, “you are the greatest.” Promising to pass health care reform, Pelosi led a brief chant of “Yes we will.”In remarks that began shortly after 11 p.m. eastern time, President Obama recycled the “other party” joke for the larger crowd. He also told an anecdote about President Abraham Lincoln, who, when told that one man was particularly responsible for electing him to the White House, said, “It’s a pretty mess you’ve gotten me into, but I forgive you.”
“That’s how I feel about you,” Obama told the ballroom crowd.
No doubt a fawning crowd felt a lot better than a frustrated one.
The president stood on a large stage flanked by giant screens projecting the DNC logo and the slogan “Organizing for America.”
I find something distasteful about a quick trip to New Orleans followed by meaningful discussions with big donors and party jingoism.
——————————–
If you watched any news today, you’re familiar with the “balloon boy” story covered in exhaustive detail by, among others, CNN. Blitzer was all over it. The NJ Star-Ledger had this to say about the silly story:
There are few spectacles in our culture more predictable, and more depressing, than the non-stop cable news coverage of a “developing story” with no new developments. The cable news channels have so much airtime to fill, and they’re all so terrified of viewers changing the channel if they move off whatever the day’s big story happens to be that they encourage their anchors, and reporters, and “experts” to just talk and talk and talk and fill all that air until the occasional scrap of new information comes out.
True, that. But bad as that is it is not what I found most depressing. The part I really loathed was Wolf Blitzer speculating that a dot on the screen could be the balloon boy falling to his death.
Wolf covered himself by saying “it could be anything.” Feh. He wouldn’t have bothered with “video forensics” if he hadn’t thought it could be a 6 year old falling to his death.
Disgusting. Beyond belief.
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I will apologize as a Colorado native for the balloon boy story taking over the airwaves so long. I have my prejudice against Ft. Collins. I know there are thousands of wonderful people living there, but there is also a group of Boulder wannabees.
In any case, now I want an apology from San Francisco (except, of course, for those protestors there). This Bush III (OOPS! I mean Obambi) story is far more of a comment about our times. A $3 million dollar check should have been written immediately to hand over to the best organizations working to help New Orleans. Then his talk about mops would have made far more sense.
What a nice idea Diana about handing over the 3 mil to NO. But that would take a politician with class and brains…
As a resident of San Francisco, please accept my apologies for the multitude of kool-aid drinkers in this city, especially for the wealthy kool-aid drinkers who have $3 million to waste on His O’Lordship but nothing to offer to this once beautiful city by the bay that’s now falling apart at the seams, thanks to those same kool-aid drinkers who elected, then re-elected, Gavin as mayor.
The so-called progressives in SF are an embarrassment. They wouldn’t know progressive if it hit them in the face. They are, in reality, a bunch of self-involved, superficial, selfish bunch of pretenders.
SF used to be such an amazing place to live. Now, it’s like His O’Lordship…..all surface, no substance.
SFIndie, thanks for the thought. I feel your pain, living close to Boulder as I do. But you were one of the SF residents I exempted from having to make an apology.
Thanks, Diana! But we know those who SHOULD apologize won’t, so…..;-)
If the media would only pay as much attention to the WH and Congressional boys and girls, then we might have some actual reporting on the ongoing health care shenanigans. Cable news has so much time to fill, but they fill it up with inane stories. Whatever happened to investigative reporting? Okay, that bar is too high. What ever happened to reporting period?!
Busy? Mopping Up?
Let’s see, wasn’t it Nancy that took Impeachment off the table, thereby contributing to that “someone else’s mess” mess? And wasn’t that our Bot-in-Chief serving in the Senate during the same time frame?
Someone else’s mess, indeed. They lie and in such a perfunctory way as to make me wonder if they even are cognizant of the truth. There is spin and then there’s hyperbole. I think they’ve crossed that particular boundary and then some.
As for grabbing a mop–I would do so gladly for the people of New Orleans and do so privately. However, I won’t lend any aid to That One or his henchmen and associate myself with the likes of such dishonorable, disreputable people.
Now, now Ferd, you can’t go blaming the mess on Obama even though he was in the Senate at the time. He was too busy campaigning to contribute to the mess–just like he was too busy campaigning to hold a hearing on Afghanistan. You know, the country we took our eye off of and continue to take our eye off of while we fly to San Francisco for $34,000 a plate dinners so we can continue blaming the mess on someone else.
ROFL. Yeah, what was I thinking?
First you need to know how to hold the mop!
LOL!
Donna, Nancy could just ask her maid what a mop is and how to hold it, dontcha know.
Why do I picture Never break a sweat Nancy more with a Broom than a mop altho in my picture she is riding it not using it to do any work?.
So she doesn’t sweat? I guess beside her whole face being botoxed, she did her arm pits too?
So when is it exactly Obama finds time to mop or do any actual work? Between the constant trips where he is still campaigning, flying all around the world, begging for the Olympics so he could walk to the games, Date nights, Wednesday night theme parties (this week was Latin, and Meeshell glared while he danced with a young beauty)
Throw some water on her. Maybe she will melt?
Doesn’t That One dance with his?
Donna, was that a swipe at Me-chelle?
LMAO
I’d like to see someone take a swipe at Mechelle with a mop myself. Not to hurt her, mind you. I am not violent. Just to clean up the mess she leaves wherever she goes.
I agree 100%.
MO can use the sleeves she pulls off her dresses as rags for mops … I’m just saying.
I’m glad they can party while American kids are still getting killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That says so much about our formerly great country. (Thinking about it, I guess that applies to the entire country.) The “wars” and death and maim-ment are back page stories to the balloon boy and weekend football.
Speaking of Americans being killed–where is the daily tally the msm ran during the Bush years? Can’t let puppet man look bad. I. for one, would like to know how much of our human treasure is being sacraficed.
How could anyone think that he was for change? It’s like party time in that white house and traveling and then he’s got the nerve to say he inherited a mess how would he even know all he cares about is himself.
I’m sure that more than makes up for all the inattention given NO after Katrina. He may as well have just flown over like Bush did the first time around. That One is as tone deaf as his predecessor, which is worse because everyone expected such of Bush. Once again–it is all about appearances, albeit in a slightly different sense. He makes an appearance here, flits off to make another there and he does so on our dime. And the mouth-breathers in attendance at his off-gassing think he’s just their bestest friend in the whole world. Yeah, he’s the Jet-setting, Chatty-Cathy President with his own plane, entourage, and groupies.
That 4 hours, though, was more than McChrystal got.
Didn’t Bush fly to Cal from his ranch for a fundraiser Bday party in the middle of Katrina? That’s probably why Barky thought he should stop by NOLA on the way to Cal
Adding insult to injury, eh? The more things CHANGE. . .
Reminds me a lot of a show once, where they went on a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour…..
Great, now I have the Gilligan’s Island song in my head, probably for the rest of the evening
A four hour visit four years after the fact is probably worse than a flyover. But the people of new Orleans are now probably “fired up” and “ready to go”. Then to S.F. get a mop… I think he meant get a mob, but just misread his teleprompter. It doesn’t take much to impress an obot… which is nice because there isn’t much there. It’s been almost a week now… Obama needs to win another honor. Is there one out there for “best tool”?
Hell, just give the four-flusher the Fickle Finger of Fate Award. He’s earned that one.
We all know how smart you need to be to work at CNN. You need to be smarter to be on a game show than CNN.
Yep. I miss Ted Turner. CNN used to be a real news operation. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Blitzer breathlessly talk about whether that picture showed a falling box (they thought the boy was in a box).
Can you imagine if it had been the boy? Who wants to see a little dude die?
Who made the decision to go with the pic? Maybe they thought it wasn’t likely the box and so nothing would be wrong. But if that was the case, then they ran it intending to make believe it could be the boy. So they lied to the viewers.
If they really didn’t know, then they were willing to show a child dying.
For sure. And that Goat F-er Blitz Wolfer is no Bernie Shaw, either. CNN is just a shell of its former self.
Hey Wolf did that hard hitting news story a couple weeks ago Factchecking the SNL skit
Obama didn’t inherit anything. He wanted it, he deliberately went after it, and he told us he could fix it. Now he’s acting like everything’s come as a complete surprise and he never asked for any of it. When you inherit something it comes to you with no action or expectation on your part. This guy didn’t “inherit” a GD thing.
Well said!
janicen,
I agree 100% and have stated the exact same thing. He along with all of congress helped to create it. He knew the exact situation. He had and still has no plan of action, and quite honestly he doesn’t give a damn. He will collect a hefty paycheck and security for life for doing absolutely nothing but partying and campaigning at our expense.
He not only wanted it, he lied cheated and stole it.
You said it, Lyn. And just in case we need a reminder:
Election 2008 – Primary, Caucus, and Convention Phase
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/
My favorite
The final Democratic primary
election popular vote with FL and MI included as WHOLE voters was
Clinton 17,857,446
Obama 17,584,649
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/D.phtml
Gaah! I am so sick of hearing about what he inherited! I never liked Bush, but I’m beginning to feel real sympathy for him. All the BO whining is beginning to sound like the boy who cried wolf. And that boy got eaten by the wolf in the end.
From JFK’s inauguraal speech, something like “those who ride the back of a tiger soon end up inside.”
On Wed. 10/14/09 the CNN “Situation Room” had 717, 000 “Real News” viewers
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/15/cable-news-ratings-for-wednesday-october-14-2009/30596
a la Anita Dunn Whitehouse vs. Fox attack chief who stated “Lets not pretend that Fox is a Real News Network as CNN is.”
Funny on Thursday, the next day, balloon-boy-day, the situation room had 1,940,000 “Real News” viewers.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/16/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-october-15-2009/30690
But give Glenn Beck the win, at the same time Thursday he had 3,222,000 viewers and went on with his regular show with about 15 seconds given to the “real news story” balloon-boy while speaking to his meager non-real news audience.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/16/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-october-15-2009/30690
LMAO–Wow. I’m just imagining some pasty-faced, latte-sipping elitist snob trying to figure out how to use the little 0.32 automatic they keep in their nightstand when their revolution starts. They will need to find a new line of work when that particular revolution doesn’t end up the way they figured it would. Indeed, they should be more reticent about what they wish for.
This is the same millionaire group that Obama ridiculed the middle class people in Pennsylvania as “bitter clingers,” and the audience laughed, in the primaries.
These are Obama’s peeps, in addition to the Goldman and JP Morgan execs.
That millionaire fundraiser is why he only had time for 4 hours in New Orleans, with a little Black boy plant in the audience asking “Why do people hate you? God is love.”
It’s disgusting, really.
BO and his socialist mop.
So much hokus pokus.
But at least you could feel a little sorry for Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Fantasia was my favorite movie as a little girl. I can watch it over and over still.
A Night on Bald Mountain, indeed! It’s more like four years on Bald Mountain we have to look forward to.
Janice has the best comment here. She’s right that Obama went after the Presidency with gusto and needs to stop complaining if the work is hard and demanding. It goes with the territory buster. Too bad we don’t have a smart, hard-working woman handling things.
Obama has spent his entire adult life campaigning for the next higher position. Now he has no higher position to campaign or work towards and yet he still does nothing in the job. Since so many of us saw this during the primary. Not a suprise to most of us, just irritating as hell.
Hell yes I am angry at our do nothing but spend and waste our money congress and president
I think we are paying greatly for Obama to take hold of that mop and clean up the mess. Frankly, we’re paying for his maid, his cook, his driver, as well as his salary. I don’t have an army of assistants to clean up after me; so he needs to clean up the damn mess himself — that’s what he’s getting paid for.
And I don’t remember it’s in his contract that we will pay for him to run around the country campaigning and fund raising!
An elitist “fop with a mop”!
Never gonna see that!
New Orleans got a token house call-that’s more than wounded soldiers got in Germany!
Palin visited the troops, BO made the S.F. show!
Hey! I told you soooo..the puppet was late to his nxt photo-opp! What can a drama queen do??????? Decisions, decisions! Sad, very sad situation…..BUT, told you so…ever since, the Dem primaries, when the corporate conrolled media enabled the puppet. Clinton, 2012!
I recall Hillary’s passion in declaring she’d have a WH Katrina Relief Director who would report to her every single day until there was success. Given her fight for medical care for 9/11 first responders, I have no doubt she would have moved mountains–or levees–to help the people of LA, TX, MS et al.
As for bho the fraud, more campaigning is all I see.
Pathetic O-bla-bla. What else would we expect from someone too arrogant to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize? There is no shame in this man–only lust for power and fame.
I remember words spoken to me by a very wise man–
“Fame will take you places where character cannot sustain you.”
He reveals his true character more and more each day.
Rise Hillary Rise!