President Obama Raises $15 Million

Meanwhile back on the Tinseltown farm last night…

The Campaigner-in-chief comes out of the closet to milk the celebrity cash cows:

(CNN) — Hollywood pulled off another blockbuster as a star-studded guest list delivered $15 million into the campaign coffers of President Barack Obama Thursday night.

The fundraiser at the home of actor and activist George Clooney in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles attracted dozens of guests including Clooney’s girlfriend, actress/model Stacy Keibler; DreamWorks studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg; designer Diane Von Furstenberg; Barbra Streisand and her actor husband James Brolin.

Hollywood…America’s last best hope [/sarcasm]. With Biden out apologizing for supposedly “jumping the gun”, the timing of it all (including the Romney bully#%$* story) seems suspiciously intentional. Could President Obama have raised so much at this event had he not come out of the closet in support of gay marriage? The announcement certainly energized his base:

Obama’s decision to publicly endorse gay marriage has electrified his liberal base and restored some of the transformative luster that had dimmed since his 2008 campaign.

“Pretty darn happy today. Thanks Mr President, for supporting the dignity of my family and so many others!” said actress Jane Lynch of hit TV series “Glee” on her Twitter feed.

Hollywood is a traditional source of funding and adulation for Democratic presidents, though there have been persistent reports that Tinseltown feels it has not been feeling sufficient love from Obama.

Many in California remember the attention that former president Bill Clinton lavished on them. Hollywood was also a prime source of funding for Clinton’s wife Hillary when she ran against Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

WaPo…

Fundraisers say the donations began pouring in within minutes of the news Wednesday that Obama, who said he had been “evolving on the issue” for months, affirmed his support for the right of same-sex couples to be married.

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Fundraisers said many donors have chosen to max out their contributions to the campaign and the Democratic Party over the past day as a sign of support for the president’s stance. Donors this year can give $5,000 to Obama and $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee, as well as additional amounts to committees formed to help Obama in swing states.

“Here I thought the LGBT community was already knocking it out of the ballpark for Obama, and now I see they’ve expanded the ballpark,” said Andrew Tobias, a longtime gay rights activist and treasurer of the DNC. “And many of my straight donors are energized as well. People are excited up and down the line.”

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On Thursday night, Obama was slated to attend a $40,000-a-plate dinner at the Los Angeles home of actor George Clooney that could net as much as $16 million in donations online and in person, top donors said.

The campaign has called that number too high but has declined to provide further details. The event could turn out to be the most profitable presidential fundraiser since unlimited donations to political parties were banned a decade ago.

The president is scheduled to return to Los Angeles on June 6 for an LGBT gala to be attended by up to 700 people. Lawyer Dana Perlman, who is helping to organize the event, said he was “ecstatic” about Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage and says he expects gay men and lesbians to respond with contributions.

“This man has come out 100 percent for our community, and each and every member of the community must now step up and do everything he or she can to see that he is reelected,” Perlman said.

Really?! “100 percent”?! As far as I can read it (and not that I’m the only one), unless President Obama is still revol- er, I mean “evolving”, he came out and expressed the bare minimum:

President Obama:

Now– I have to tell you that part of my hesitation on this has also been I didn’t want to nationalize the issue. There’s a tendency when I weigh in to think suddenly it becomes political and it becomes polarized.

And what you’re seeing is, I think, states working through this issue– in fits and starts, all across the country. Different communities are arriving at different conclusions, at different times. And I think that’s a healthy process and a healthy debate. And I continue to believe that this is an issue that is gonna be worked out at the local level, because historically, this has not been a federal issue, what’s recognized as a marriage.

Sounds like there’s more room for him revolving evolving:

Even though Obama is openly and for the first time ever embracing states’ rights on an issue that Stewart considers a civil rights issue — a position that the Left declares racist on every other civil rights issue — Stewart celebrates Obama’s “evolution.”

Even though Obama only decided to, uhm, come out after 32 out of 32 states voted to ban same-sex marriage and the day after the NC vote — Stewart celebrates Obama’s “evolution.”

Even though Obama only decided to declare his support for same-sex marriage after several wealthy and high-profile backers of gay marriage threatened to withhold money — Stewart applauds Obama’s “evolution.”

Even though Obama only decided to stop lying about his position on same-sex marriage a day or so before he’s set to make a major record-setting fundraising swing through New York and Hollywood — Stewart applauds Obama’s “evolution.”

Stewart declares the vote against same-sex marriage in North Carolina “bigoted” and yet through an extraordinary act of cognitive dissonance, takes no issue with Obama singling out gays for his new-found Federalism, which is another way of saying Obama thinks NC should be allowed to pass a law that both Stewart and Obama consider to be a violation of civil rights.

Nothing, however, is more pathetic than the opening of this clip where Stewart actually says out loud that what Obama did was to put principle over politics.