COMMENTARY | Leave it to Fox News and conservative pundits to bash President Obama's birthday party. The DNC hosted a fundraiser for the 2012 election on the eve of Obama's birthday Wednesday, with proceeds being split between the presidential campaign and the DNC. Fox News billed it a "lavish affair" at a "$40,000 a night ballroom" in Chicago. Conservatives even planned to protest outside of the party.
All candidates hold fundraisers for their campaigns, so what is the problem with our president doing the same?
The problem, according to conservatives like Mitt Romney, is that fundraising while the economy is doing poorly is inappropriate behavior. Romney released a campaign video ahead of Obama's fundraiser that portrays a dismal version of Chicago. Obama's election acceptance speech at Grant Park plays in the background as shots from the most desolate parts of the city are shown, along with messages like "Chicago's unemployment up 48 percent," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In a fancy editing trick, the video also shows a picture of Grant Park empty with only a few chairs set up, giving the impression that the park has fallen into disrepair. In actuality, the photo was most likely taken while the park was closed off to set up chairs for one of the city's many vibrant concerts. It must have taken a lot of work to make Chicago appear on the same level as Detroit or Cleveland; the misrepresentation of the facts is more egregious than the president fundraising for his upcoming election.
As for fundraising, are we to believe that all of the conservative candidates are abstaining from fundraising until the economy rights itself? According to Open Secrets, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, and Rick Santorum raised a total of more than $18 million in contributions for 2010. The economy was still in trouble last year. All of the Republican candidates' websites solicit donations, and Romney had already received $10 million in donations by May of this year. Apparently it is acceptable to raise money as long as your name is not Barack Obama.
So Fox News is upset Obama is having a lavish fundraiser in a ballroom. If anyone over at Fox had done some fact-checking before they went to press, they would have found out the Aragon Ballroom is not exactly what it sounds like.
In the 1920s, the ballroom was an ornate place to see live jazz. Today, it is home to small concerts for mostly local bands. It is in the city's Uptown community, one that has seen a large increase in gang violence in recent months. The party is not being held in an exclusive room in one of the city's richest neighborhoods, but in one that is struggling to improve its image. Hosting the party in Uptown can only do great things for the neighborhood, and I applaud the president's choice for his celebration.
Now that the debt debate has quieted down, it looks like conservatives are trying to manufacture drama. Fundraising is a part of politics, and unless Republicans decide to halt all fundraising until the economy is back on track, they should find better things to criticize the president for. The only people who should be upset about the president's birthday fundraiser are those who will be stuck in traffic around the time of the gala, and even they probably don't mind that much.
Sources:
Paul Bentley " What debt crisis? Obama partying with millionaires and corporate jet owners at lavish birthday fundraiser " Fox News
Lynn Sweet " Mitt Romney taunts Obama over Chicago's woes ahead of visit " Chicago Sun Times
" 2012 Presidential Candidates " Open Secrets
McKay Coppins " Mitt Romney's $10 million fundraising windfall " The Daily Beast
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