Barack Obama's appearance in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night brought out the stars...and their checkbooks.
The event at the Beverly Hilton was expected to raise $3 million to $4 million and was like a giant Hollywood premiere, with Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland, Jamie Foxx and Tyler Perry on hand, as well as Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind and Fire.
About 1,000 people attended, with tickets running $1,000 to $2,500 each. In addition, 125 couples paid around $30,000 each for a dinner and a photo with Obama.
The Preseident's L.A. visit came after an appearance in Las Vegas Tuesday night at a Caesar’s Palace fundraiser that brought in $2 million for incumbent Harry Reid. That event saw the President share billing with Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow.
The Hollywood company may have been glamorous, but the allures of Sin City and pulling the one-armed bandit for the Senate Majority Leader must seem like a welcoming memory to Obama.
After all, this was the President’s first fundraising appearance in front of the Hollywood community since taking office. And, in a time of an ailing economy, bailouts and mergers, Hollywood -- which has been a constant source of public and financial support for Obama and the Democrats -- must have been looking at the head table and asking the Celebrity-in-Chief, to quote that old Janet Jackson song, “What have you done for me lately?”
While aware of the criticism, it is not a question John Emerson, who along with Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen -- the latter an early Obama supporter when most of the town was lining up behind Hillary for the Democratic nomination -- is one of the organizers of the fundraiser, gives much credence to. Even though he is acutely aware of the blowback both his former boss, 2004 nominee John Kerry, and other Democrats have got for being seen as too close to Hollywood.
“I think that for promoting a message, whether in a campaign context or sometimes in a governing context, it may be appropriate to have Hollywood closely involved,” said the former assistant to Bill Clinton, Music Center CEO and Capital Guardian Trust VP who has become both a local fixture and a fixer for Democratic Party politics here in L.A. “Right now, the focus of the administration is on trying to solve the problems that we’re facing.”
Most noticeably, the President has been accused of snubbing the entertainment industry that did so much to help him get elected in 2008 on his first post-inaugural visit to L.A. in March. In town for two days mid-month Obama’s only public brush with Hollywood, besides sharing the stage at an event with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on March 13.
The first late-night TV visit by a sitting President was overshadowed, as was much of the policy heavy trip, by an ill conceived aside from Obama about his abilities on the basketball court and the Special Olympics.
