Obama fundraiser at Sarah Jessica Parker's house: How'd it go?
The first couple attended a much-promoted fundraiser in Manhattan Thursday night at the home of actress Sarah Jessica Parker. So how did that go? Did the combined star power crash the West Village power grid? Did President Obama raise (tasteful) basketsful of cash? Did first lady Michelle Obama steal the show?
No, yes, and yes. That鈥檚 what it seems from the report of pool journalists who accompanied the president, in any case. We can鈥檛 write from personal experience because due to a postal glitch our personal invite went to Meryl Streep instead.
First of all, very famous people did attend the $40,000-per-person event. The aforementioned Ms. Streep was there, for instance. Co-host Anna Wintour, Vogue editor, helped preside over the event.
But George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, and the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant weren鈥檛 there. Bravo鈥檚 Andy Cohen was. In other words, there weren鈥檛 lots of people so famous that average voters would be able to identify them on sight.
The pool reporter, who probably does not read Vogue as if it were Mike Allen鈥檚 Playbook (that鈥檚 an inside reporter joke), was not sure who many of the people seated at the two long tables in Ms. Parker鈥檚 brownstone were.
鈥淭here were many attractive people seated at the tables, but your pooler sadly did not recognize them,鈥� they wrote.
Still, 50 guests at $40,000 each can produce a lot of cash, even if they haven鈥檛 all done "Today Show" guest spots. Do the math, and you get a sum of 聽... worth the Obamas' time.
But reading between the lines of the pool report, it seems to us that the real star of the evening was Mrs. Obama.
Here鈥檚 how the actress who played Carrie Bradshaw welcomed her. 鈥淚t is a great, a rare, a very special and I鈥檓 assuming a singular treat to welcome you into our home 鈥� our radiant, our extraordinary first lady,鈥� said Ms. Parker, gesturing toward Mrs. Obama, who was seated next to her.
Only then did she turn to Mrs. Obama鈥檚 husband, calling him the 鈥渂eloved current and future president of the United States.鈥�
Of course, the whole setup was tilted in Mrs. Obama鈥檚 favor 鈥� one co-host edits a fashion magazine, the other plays a character who loves shoes. That鈥檚 not an NBA playoff-watching demographic.
Parker noted that her husband, Matthew Broderick, was absent, for instance, saying he had to perform in a show. As if. We鈥檇 wager that he and Joe Biden were in the basement man cave playing darts and watching the Mets.
Anyway, Republicans have been criticizing this event, saying that it shows how out of touch Obama is. He鈥檚 acting all celebrity-in-chief at a time when the US needs a chief-executive-in-chief. Or something like that.
Conservatives made fun of the president for talking about his plans for the middle class (鈥淪till a lot of people hurting out there,鈥� said Obama) in front of a group of folks who mingle with the middle class only when it鈥檚 serving them dinner.
鈥淲hile rubbing elbows with New York鈥檚 rich and famous Obama paused to remember the Americans suffering under his economy, how sweet,鈥� on the conservative Twitchy entertainment website.
