White House For Sale To Donors
Keeping with the infamous Clinton tradition of selling coveted White House access for political donations, Barack Obama rewards wealthy contributors with exclusive visits, parties and other intimate activities at the executive mansion.
The deep-pocketed contributors and bundlers are being aggressively courted by the commander-in-chief and his Democratic Party to raise large sums for congressional candidates in the 2010 elections. To thank them for giving generously to his presidential campaign—and inspire them to keep the dollars flowing—Obama has promised high-dollar fundraisers VIP White House access, private briefings with advisers and invitations to important speeches.
The secret Obama deals were made public this week by a Washington D.C. newspaper that obtained internal Democratic National Committee documents, including advisory board and finance committee papers. They reveal that high-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to personally donate $30,400 or to raise $300,000 for the 2010 midterm elections.
Droves of Democratic fundraisers and donors have already been graciously thanked with special invitations to quaint White House functions, private bowling at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, special banquets and private time with the president. A couple of bundlers even caught a flick with Obama in the White House movie theater.
Obama is hardly the only commander-in-chief to unscrupulously use the White House to raise cash, though he’s the first to promise Americans he’d end the practice as part of his highly publicized change rhetoric. George W. Bush rewarded his top donors, known as “Pioneers,” with overnight stays and parties.
In the 1990s Bill Clinton sold Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers and other White House perks for millions of dollars. Contributors were also ushered into the Oval Office for coffees, lunches and other meetings with the former president and First Lady and taken for rides on Air Force One. Many of those donors also gave hefty sums to Hillary’s failed presidential campaign.
