A day after announcing himself evolved on marriage equality, President Obama heads to Hollywood for a fundraising dinner at George Clooney’s house that promises to raise a whopping $15 million. The campaign turned the event into a raffle, where a small donor could win “dinner with Barack and George,” and that raffle took in $9 million, on top of the $6 million from the 150 attendees of the event. Clearly, Hollywood has been kind to the President.
Like many Presidential fundraisers and campaign events, this one will be marked by a protest outside the grounds. But this will have nothing to do with gay rights, though activists seeking LGBT equality have been among the most vocal at these types of events. Interestingly, this protest is being put together by housing and bank accountability activists, including one of the major coalitions that supported the foreclosure fraud settlement and the announcement of a task force to investigate Wall Street banks.
When President Barack Obama and Hollywood’s glitterati arrive for a million-dollar fundraiser at George Clooney’s California mansion, they’ll pass by a collection of 50 or so people urging the president to help them keep their homes.
Campaign for a Fair Settlement, a group of underwater homeowners and housing advocates, plan to protest outside the Laurel Canyon event on Thursday. They want Obama to get tougher on the banks and mortgage lenders that triggered the housing crisis — and force the conservator of federally-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do more to help them.
“We’re urging the president to be tougher and stronger,” said Nish Suvarnakar the campaign’s manager. “We’re asking him to use his authority to push the Department of Justice to make it a priority to investigate. We believe, and a lot of the 11 million struggling homeowners believe, he hasn’t done enough when it comes to the housing crisis.”
Campaign for a Fair Settlement was the coalition that basically stuck to Eric Schneiderman’s side during the negotiations over foreclosure fraud. They broke with those objecting to the settlement after the announcement of the task force. So they would, in my mind, be the least likely organization to picket the President at a fundraiser to demand a stronger line on Wall Street accountability.
But the coalition has become disillusioned of late by the relative silence of the task force, and the belief that nothing meaningful will come from either that or the settlement. And they feel they have a small window to force real change here before the election season starts in earnest. One organizer from CFS told me that they were seeing a lot of unity among the coalition to go after Obama more directly as a means to open up real investigations. This is the first of many demonstrations they plan at events where Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder is present. They also plan to protest at Obama for America campaign offices across the country.
Campaign for a Fair Settlement also hopes to mobilize the 11 million underwater homeowners in America as a constituency that will be heard throughout the election. Some of those underwater homeowners will be at the protest tonight.
And provided that Los Angeles traffic patterns cooperate, I will be there as well. My Twitter feed is probably the best place to find quick updates from the protest tonight, which should kick off around 6pm Pacific time/9pm Eastern.




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Wasn’t the CFPB exactly designed to prevent such abuses?
Hmmmm . . . $15 million to be raised in one evening . . . 11 million underwater homeowners who probably would need an average of what, maybe $200,000 each to pay off their mortgages? That leaves millions to spare, and it’s just one event! Why, those crazy oligarchs could fix everything if the only wanted to!
Yeah, good luck with that.
I get the general idea of what you’re saying…. but you lost me on the math…. thinking maybe you forgot to carry a 0. or two. or three.
Clooney or Bush?
George Clooney, another phony liberal. $40,000 a plate fund raiser. Give me a effin break! A 1%er in good standing.
Clooney’s heart seems to be in the right place, too bad he doesn’t view Obama objectively. His actions would be better suited to campaigning for Rocky Anderson and/or Jill Stein rather than the Celebrity President/Puppet-in-Chief.
Doesn’t matter they move in the same circles. Get one is like getting the other.
He chooses “liberal issues” that are “safe.” Wouldn’t want to offend the U.S. public with something controversial in the U.S. because there could be a back lash at the box office.
Will they singing this at Clooney’s grand soiree for the Pretender in Chief?
Of course not because they are of the same class and run in the same social circles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s76mkRRGPZA
I think Clooney is playing Sinatra to Obama’s JFK. Who wouldn’t want to “hang” with the pres and sleep in the WH? Gotta admit, that’s pretty cool.
Endorse gay marriage, then pal around with the rich & powerful – what a perfect rendition of today’s whoring neolib “Democratic” party. They’ll go left on trendy boutique social issues because that doesn’t cost them money. But economic justice can go shove it, ’cause that comes with a price tag.
You’re probably correct. Both are actors and Obama’s Africa policies give Clooney an excuse to visit Sudan.
George Clooney :
http://www.enoughproject.org/
Yep.
Ding! “Politics is just show business for ugly people.”
~Jay Leno~
Clooney? Smug jackass.
Both careers showcase the mastery of wearing masks and lying. At least with show business it’s for the purpose of entertainment rather than amassing power.
well, it’s not either/or. equality is not just a “trendy, boutique” issue.
No, it’s not.
But I still don’t understand what good all the same rights as anyone else has are good if they all live in an unjust, profit for the few misery for the rest, economy.
No thanks. I’ll NOT vote for a Democrat just because they’ll do better than the Republican on social issues. And anyone that does, is approving their decision to only care about social issues and not do a damn thing on economic ones. The only “change” we’ll force with that is social issue change, which again, isn’t insignificant, but isn’t all that important either when you’re starving, homeless, and have no other rights anyway.
It’s a worthy effort, but I’d be highly surprised if demonstraters can get anywhere near the compound. I heard that police will be checking ID’s. Anyone not proven to live in that hood, ain’t gettin’ in that hood. We’ll see if that turns out to be true.
A friend of mine has cooked for several POTUS’. He’s a chef in New Haven and tends to cook for the Yale U Prez, including when a POTUS is visiting. He’s told me they usually secure a few square blocks. But if Clooney lives on a cul-de-sac, it’ll be easy for them to be visible.
My important takeaway from today is that we’re gonna put the AZ Sheriff in jail! And we’re gonna be stern with Ted Nugent! And the secret service agents are gonna be in trouble!
And unfortunately, with all that important stuff happening… oh well… Mr. PlaceHolder doesn’t have time for Wall Street. Besides, we don’t know that they committed any crimes. So I think you guys should all shush and be nice with President Transparency!
I was purposely doing the math wrong – a million here, a million there, who cares when you’re an oligarch. I could have been a little less obtuse. The money in politics has become something you can’t even measure any more, especially against the comparatively small amounts that could change the life of a homeowner or unemployed person.
Ahh, I get it.
Yeah, you’re right.
Still though, the thought itsn’t without merit. Just think of the BILLIONS of dollars that will be raised by both political parities THIS YEAR ALONE and I’d bet you could damn near get every underwater mortgage holder back above water at least. Maybe even more than that.
Our priorities as a country are so fucked up.
Yeah, I really think that’s right. Or the banks could just forgive the debt like they did in Iceland.
hbb–
In case you drop back by here–please see my comment to you (#11 to your #6) on the “News” side, Dayen’s “Reid Rejects Plan to . . . Trigger.”
Thanks–
Blue
I’ve enjoyed many a Clooney film, and the actor has come over as a reasonable bloke.
So why does he buy Obysmal’s bullshit?
Spot-on, Kafka, thank you. Obama uses social issues to appease the left. It is shocking that people do not see that. It is like “What’s Wrong with Kansas City,” but applied to the “left.”
We know neoliberals are social liberals and economic conservatives. While he is so wonderfully liberal on SOCIAL issues, we know Obama does not and will not budge meaningfully on critical ECONOMIC issues, such as:
tax cuts for the rich, public option, Republican radical restructuring of the tax code away from progressive income taxes to regressive sales tax (watch, while radically and permanently cutting the top income tax rate, Obama is going to implement a VAT tax in his second term to make up for his reduction of the income tax rate), meaningful cuts in wars, Big Food vs. small farmers,’ and anything that is key for the biggest lobbyists, etc. He (Obama) is so reprehensible.
He is preferred by many Repubs because he will implement Republican economic policies more effectively–the Democrats will go along with those policies when it is Obama who implements those policies. Because Obama will be more EFFECTIVE in implementing Republican economic policies, Romney is to be preferred to Obama. And Obama’s winning will only push the DEmocratic party further to the right. Many reasons why the left should wish for a defeat of this radical neoliberal (as radical as Bush II on economic issues), Obama.