Hullabaloo

Friday, June 24, 2011

 
Winning the future one "hen of the woods" at a time

by digby

Gotta get that billion somewhere and to paraphrase Willie Sutton, this is where the money is:

Last night Obama headed to the Upper East Side to wine and dine Wall Street.

The DNC fundraiser at tony restaurant Daniel cost attendees $35,800 each, and a source told Ben White at Morning Money that the event netted $2.4 million.

So his calculations were that at least 67 financiers had come to the party.

"Wall Street may hate Washington but sources tell M.M. that last night's $35,800 per-head event... was a boffo success packed with hedge fund and private equity types."

Marc Lasry was there, as expected. So was Orin Kramer.

According to Dealbook, the menu included: "Maine lobster salad with roasted beets, duos of Black Angus beef, braised short ribs with young spinach, and roasted tenderloin with stuffed potato and hen of the woods."

The meal was prepared by Daniel Boulud himself.

The dinner was part of Obama's plan to win back the group of financiers that helped him cruise past McCain in 2008, many of whom were turned off by the President's labeling of them as "fat cats" near the beginning of his term.

I love how everyone portrays this as the worst insult and most horrifying experience of these delicate lambs' sheltered lives. The horror of being called a "fat cat!" (Thank goodness they have "roasted tenderloin with stuffed potato and hen of the woods" to ease their pain. Plus the billions, of course)

This part's quite interesting, although I doubt it has any basis in reality. These "fat cats" will all cover their bases -- as they always do. Politics is chump change for these people.

Obama is hoping to win over hedge fund titans who were previously bundlers for the Clintons, as well as a much more challenging task — winning Republicans. Though Democrats won't be so easily wooed this time around, apparently...

"One Democratic financier invited to this month’s dinner... said it was ironic that the same president who once criticized bankers as “fat cats” would now invite them to dine at Daniel, where the six-course tasting menu runs to $195 a person," the Times reported earlier this month. "The donor declined the invitation."

That's nice. But the optics are the least of it (although they really are terrible, especially on the heels of a week-end filled with pictures of Obama and Boehner kibbitzing on the golf course.) I wouldn't mind fundraisers at Daniel if the policies that resulted weren't the equivalent of "let them eat cake." These fat cats can dine on all the Maine lobster salad they stuff in their greedy mouths if all they want is to rub shoulders with the president. Unfortunately, they expect something in return for their largesse and they have the access and influence to make it stick.

But hey, a billion dollars for a presidential campaign doesn't grow on trees. It's not like the rest of the country has any money to spare.

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digby 6/24/2011 09:50:00 AM |