If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
To say a president and other politicians shouldn't try to raise money to help fight for his agenda is simply wrong, especially with the huge buckets of money being raised and spent to fight him.
Despite reports of corporate and other highrollers offended at alleged aloofness and a lack of perks from the White House during the first term, this time, they'll be welcomed with open arms. The president said it himself -- he likes a good party.
Unfortunately the Obama administration has confused non-drug industrial hemp with marijuana and blocked American farmers from growing the crop. This outrageous policy has forced American companies to import hemp textiles.
Lloyd Grove has distorted President Obama's fundraising phone call of June 29. I was on that call. The president did not "beg," "ramble," or sound like "a dog-tired idealist forced to grapple painfully with hard reality." Give me a break.
This week, the ongoing impact of money on our politics made a starring appearance on the national stage. In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker fought off a bid to recall him, aided by an eight-to-one fundraising advantage over his Democratic opponent. In the presidential race, Mitt Romney's campaign announced it had raised nearly $77 million in May, close to $17 million more than the combined take of President Obama and the Democratic National Committee. The Obama camp trumpeted the fact that its average donation was just over $50, but admitted in a fundraising email: "We got beat." And a new poll showed that the approval rating for the Supreme Court, responsible for the super-PAC-unleashing Citizens United ruling, had dipped to a 25-year low, with three-quarters of Americans saying the justices allow personal or political views to influence their decisions. The justices will, of course, object. But if so... overruled.
While huge donations roll in, the mobilization of ordinary citizens and traditional outreach designed raise public awareness, conventional but tested tools behind electoral victories, will decrease.
California was always likely to play a substantially bigger role in Obama's fundraising than New York. The Golden State's economy is much bigger than the Empire State's. And Wall Street simply can't be catered to the way it would clearly like to be, not by any Democratic president.
Among many politically engaged creatives the failure of SOPA, seen as the industry's biggest policy initiative in recent years, isn't necessarily being blamed on the Obama administration.
We can't bicker among ourselves while the other side has no problem focusing on the primary objective, which is to win -- even at all costs.
Ignoring all evidence and facts, Wall Street is reported to be "an industry that the White House has thoroughly and repeatedly demonized and demoralized" -- what?
As the media frenzy in Iowa fades to the media frenzy in New Hampshire, the selection of an American president has completely descended into a poorly acted reality TV show. This show will continue through the winter and into the spring. Several contestants will be thrown off the island. With re-runs and conventions over the summer, the fall season opens up with a whole new horse race: President Obama (the battered champ) vs. "who knows who?" (the determined challenger). For the media, the challenge will be to ensure that the race is close enough to stimulate viewership and high ratings. For the nation, the challenge will be to select the person most qualified to lead the American people.
It's clear enough -- or should be by now -- that the electoral process has been occupied by the 1%. They are making money off, and electing a president via, you. Which means that you -- that all of us -- are occupied, too.
Four years ago at this time, the early adopters among us were just starting to get used to the regular flow of email from the Obama campaign. The missives were actually exciting to get, because they seemed less like appeals for money than a chance to join a movement.
Money has taken over our political system in a way that is simply horrifying. Special interest groups, in particular corporations, unions, Wall Streeters and bankers, dominate our politics. But we are not helpless.
Just as Obama was being feted Thursday night at Harvey Weinstein's West Village pad, at the Bowery Poetry Club a recognized psychic healer was telling the crowd, "I feel sorry for him. He won't be elected to another term."
The fractured Republican field, together with Obama's fundraising freight train, may lead Republican donors to simply raise the white flag and wait it out till 2016.
