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White House Dossier

Obama Campaign Raffles Off . . . Obama

Here’s a portion of an email I got yesterday from a sender named “Barack Obama.” I presume it went out to the entire multi-million strong Obama campaign email list.

Keith —

I’ve set aside time for four supporters like you to join me for dinner. Most campaigns fill their dinner guest lists primarily with Washington lobbyists and special interests.

We didn’t get here doing that, and we’re not going to start now. We’re running a different kind of campaign. We don’t take money from Washington lobbyists or special-interest PACs — we never have, and we never will.

We rely on everyday Americans giving whatever they can afford — and I want to spend time with a few of you. So if you make a donation today, you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to be one of the four supporters to sit down with me for dinner. Please donate $5 or more today:

We’ll pay for your flight and the dinner — all you need to bring is your story and your ideas about how we can continue to make this a better country for all Americans.

This won’t be a formal affair. It’s the kind of casual meal among friends that I don’t get to have as often as I’d like anymore, so I hope you’ll consider joining me . . .

Hope to see you soon,

Barack

What? Obama is only worth five bucks?

So the president is going to have to sit and listen to ideas from four potentially inane people over dinner, which I presume, to be legit, has to last at least an hour. I hope the Secret Service will be joining them at the table.

This is really not Obama’s style. I wonder who convinced him to do it.

It’s left unsaid where dinner will be, but I hope these people don’t think they’ll be dining at the White House, since that would violate laws governing the use of federal property for fundraising. He’ll probably do the Average Joe thing at take them out for burgers, when I’m sure they’d rather be feasting on lobster.

Thats what he did to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev – took him to a burger joint. I’m sure Medvedev was shocked.

And, you know, I realize that since the 1960s America has been hellbent on shedding all signs of “uptightness.” But really, a missive from the president signed “Barack?” And raffling off the president?

I hope he at least folds his napkin at the end of dinner.

30 thoughts on “Obama Campaign Raffles Off . . . Obama”

  1. Shofar

    I got the same letter (still have not figured out how they got my e-mail address) and nearly spewed hot coffee through my nose. If I’m going to spend $5 it will be to buy 1.416 gallons of gas, or a small can of coffee to replace what I damned near snorted.

  3. William

    Ever get a bout of insomnia and listen to Coast to Coast AM? Imagine if one of the winners came from the regular contributors to that show. Still, it’s more likely that they will carefully select the four random winners so they don’t run the risk of someone offer the idea that the real solution is less government intervention. Don’t want to wind up with another situation like the one where the workers at that plant challenged him on his energy policies.

    1. Russell

      I agree with William that the “winners” will be vetted and they will know exactly whom these folks are. Heck, they are already picked for all I know. Send in a Joe the Plumber or two and see what happens.

    2. AnonnA

      Wasn’t it the “small people” the first time this phrase came up? I remember it was a translation from the Prez’s trip to Denmark or something.

      1. William

        The “small people” quote was from BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg during the Deepwater Horizon incident. He left a meeting at the White House and vowed not to forget the “small people’ of the Gulf Coast. There were a lot of people who became very angry that he used that term. Personally, I thought he was trying to say “the little guys” and just screwed up the translation (since English isn’t his first language). I also wondered how many people who were angry at Svanberg refering to them as “small people” are the same ones who get weak in the knees when some politician refers to them as the “little guys.”

  5. Linda

    And…you don’t even have to contribute to “enter” the raffle! In addition to the dinner at a location to be determined, the winners get airfare to whatever that location might be. Such a deal! /snark

  6. srdem65

    It would be hard to imagine a better way to demean the office of the POTUS than to offer a date with the sitting President for $5.
    Other national leaders, friend or foe, must be either horrified or laughing at the prospect of the supposed leader of the USA selling himself and his valuable time .

  7. Susan

    Keith, If I recall correctly, you registered on WH.gov to ‘stay informed’. Do you know if this email is a result of that registration? Granny Jan first noticed the ad and memorialized it…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u3AK1TkZbs&feature=player_embedded

    They have already blown past that law about campaigning on Federal property with the DNC fundraiser the threw at the WH, so wouldn’t put it past them to have the Little People Summit on the WH grounds.

    1. Keith Koffler

      True, Susan, should never underestimate willingness to fudge the law.

      I can’t imagine they sent this specifically to the White House list. One thing I’m wondering if there’s a backdoor way by allowing the White House to share the list with the DNC or the campaign.

  9. Sara B

    Wow Keith….getting that letter the same week the story was released about all the special interests and big donors represented on the
    White House payroll unbelievably brazen. The entire letter is a lie and anyone who believes otherwise hasn’t been paying attention. I guess the bigger the lie the harder the truth is to decern. In Obama’s case, I assume he’s lying unless proven otherwise. Sad.

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