President Obama's fundraising outpaces Bush, 'no' change rakes in the change

October 20, 10:09 AMWichita Independent ExaminerGeoff Caldwell

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Obama at DNC fundraiser Oct. 15th.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

COMMENTARY - The 2008 election solidified President Obama's place in political fundraising history.  As President he is on pace to continue making history.

On today's  Morning Joe Mika Brezinnski pointed out that the President has attended 22 fund raisers to date compared to President Bush just 6 in the same time frame.

And there's another one tonight in New York.  You know, New York, the home of Wall Street?  That same Wall Street that the White House has used as its personal whipping boy for all things evil in this country. 

NBC's Savannah Guthrie tried yesterday to get some perspective from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs but instead got this:

Q Yes, I know. I might do the two questions routine, too. Tomorrow's fundraiser in New York, are you expecting Wall Street executives to be in attendance?

MR. GIBBS: I would point you to the DNC to -- it's a DNC fundraiser and they probably have better attendance figures.

Q Assuming they are, there are some present, will the President -- would he use the opportunity to make the same kind of remarks the officials are making?

MR. GIBBS: Look, the President won't hesitate whether or not they're there to reiterate the responsibility that Wall Street and everybody in the financial industry has to ensure that the type of behavior that got us into the problems that we faced a year -- little more than a year ago are never repeated.

Q Assuming then that these Wall Street executives are present, and I think there's some reporting that they may be, is there anything unseemly about the President going to a $30,000 --

MR. GIBBS: I don't have a roster as to who is going to be there and, again, I'd point you to DNC.
(Source www.whitehouse.gov )

Notice how quickly Gibbs cut off Guthrie when the $30,000 amount came up.  (Technically it's $30,400 per couple but who's counting?) 

I guess when you're more worried about waging war against Fox News than you are about winning a real war in Afghanistan, pesky questions about the appropriateness of a President hopping Air Force One to attend a fund raiser for DNC fat cats doesn't exactly fit Anita Dunn's "we control the media" scenario.

Bush was pilloried by the press for his New Orleans flyover and press conference post Katrina.  Yet Obama does a four hour fly in on his way to a San Francisco fundraiser and nary a word said. 

Alan Blinder  in the University of Alabama's "The Crimson White", points out that it wasn't just the shortness of the President's visit to New Orleans, but also the fact that he totally ignored the entire state of Mississippi.  He highlights that the President was 22 paragraphs into his New Orleans speech before even mentioning the state that lost 235 of its citizens to Katrina and suffered $125 billion in damages.

Ben Feller in his AP story , points out that San Francisco and New York were only the beginning.  By the end of this week, Obama will travel to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virgina.  All for the benefit of Democratic candidates in those states.

Gibbs and the White House spin machine can attempt to divert the message all they want but the fact remains that  Obama made changing the political landscape in Washington a mantra of his campaign. 

Yet his trip to New York tonight illustrates that as long as there is so much "$change$" to be had, the promised political change will be slow coming if it arrives at all. 

And if that's not bad enough, the White House makes sure there is at least one "official" event so we, the American taxpayer, get to pick up the majority of the tab for the political pandering. 

Budget deficits larger than ever in American history, no end in sight, but the White House has the money to send the President off fundraising.  (Conventional wisdom is $60 grand an hour minimum just for operating Air Force One)

Gotta love that "hope" and "change".  Or wait, was it really just "hoping for more $change$"?