Some days you have to wonder if this man actually believes his own lies...
President Obama has reportedly compared himself and his agenda to that of Martin Luther King Jr.
The respected D.C. blog White House Dossier says the remarks were made at a small, exclusive fundraiser on Thursday night in New York City.
The event was hosted by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
Veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler writes on the blog that people may have forgotten how Martin Luther King vilified and controversial and that nobody was more despairing at times.
Noting that Mr King now has his own memorial on the Mall in D.C, Mr Koffler writes: 'There was a decade that followed the great successes of Birmingham and Selma in which he was just struggling, fighting the good fight, and scorned, and many folks angry.
'But what he understood, what kept him going, was that the arc of moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.'
Mr Koffler, who describes the blog as 'the 24/7, independent, and totally unauthorised White House blog' says of Mr Obama's analogy: 'At least it wasn’t Jesus. Mr Obama, I knew Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King was a friend of mine.'
Among the guests packed around five tables in a basement room at the fundraiser were actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, comedian Jimmy Fallon, designer Vera Wang, singer Alicia Keys.
Earlier, hundreds of people awaited the president's arrival on the streets Manhattan near the Mr Weinstein residence, a multi-story brick row house. When inside, the President said: 'This is a pretty good-looking crowd.'
Speaking in the world financial capital, he noted the week's gyrations in the stock market, and also the popularity of US Treasury bonds, despite Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating.
'I don't know if you noticed when the stock market went down. What did everybody buy after the downgrade? U.S. Treasuries,' he said. 'The market voted with its feet.'
The president attended two fundraisers while in New York. The first, at the Ritz Carlton, was a small reception for just 15 guests.
Tickets to both events were $35,800 per person, the maximum contribution allowed by law. The money will be divided between the Obama re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
He told the crowd at a plant in the economically battered state of Michigan that there was frustration in his voice - in case anyone should have missed it - and said Americans were right to be worried about the country's 9.1 per cent unemployment rate and the fluctuations in the stock market
He said: 'Unfortunately what we've seen in Washington in the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock, and that gridlock has undermined public confidence, and impeded our efforts to take the steps we need for our economy.'
He also urged the crowd to tell Washington lawmakers they'd had enough with the bickering and stalemates.
'You've got to tell them you've had enough of the theatrics you've had enough of the politics, stop sending out press releases start passing some bills that we all know will help the economy right now,' he said. 'That's what they need to do. They've got to hear from you.'
'The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C.,' he said. 'They need to spend more time out here listening to you and hearing how fed up you are.'
He made the remarks after he toured the plant which makes advanced batteries for alternative-fuel vehicles such as hybrids or all-electrics.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: 'Everything that this president does is either a fundraiser or a political move in order to advance his march to a second term.'
No comments:
Post a Comment