The Money Pit

Proving that President Obama is the first choice of Wall Street and the American super-rich, his reelection campaign announced Wednesday that it had broken all previous records for fundraising, raking in $86 million during the second quarter of this year.

The $86 million total dwarfed the previous record for presidential reelection fundraising, the $50 million raised by George W. Bush in the third quarter of 2003. It was far above the $60 million target set by Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina.

Obama for America, the official name of the reelection effort, raised $47 million, while the Democratic National Committee collected $38 million, largely from fundraising events featuring the president, where big donors are allowed to give up to $30,800 apiece. Individual donations to Obama for America are limited under federal election laws to a maximum of $5,000.

...The Obama reelection campaign will be the most lavishly funded in American history. It is expected to dwarf the $745 million Obama raised in 2008, and could top the $1 billion mark. Only two decades ago, $20 million was sufficient to finance a full-scale presidential campaign.
~ from Obama Campaign Raises Record Sums from the Wealthy by Patrick Martin ~

If you listen to the way the story is told in the mainstream press, Wall Street has been none to happy with the Obama administration. Supposedly they are angered because his policy initiatives have thwarted their vested interests. The mainstream media never seems to pickup on the great irony of such an assertion; Wall Street is experiencing record profits!

One of the best ways to tell if a storyline matches with reality is to FOLLOW THE MONEY. If the moneyed interests were as upset with Barack Obama as we've been told, then one would expect that they would not eagerly open up their checkbooks. Of course, as Martin reports above, the precise opposite is true. Wall Street has opened the vault and is showering the president with buckets upon buckets of campaign contributions.

So, how upset are they really?

Another interesting aspect to Obama's second quarter fundraising prowess concerns the manner in which his campaign is portraying it. If you listen to his press people, most of the money collected comes from small donations averaging $69. This gives the impression that there is a groundswell of support from working Americans.

But, as Martin aptly points out, this part of the fundraising picture represents less than one-half the haul.

The remainder, about $49 million, came in large-dollar contributions, including thousands who gave the maximum of $35,800 — $30,800 to the DNC and $5,000 to Obama for America.

The Washington Post noted, “Much of the tens of millions Obama raised through the Democratic National Committee came from big fundraising events that the president attended throughout the spring. Donors to the DNC can give up to $30,800, and many of those who made the maximum contribution got to attend intimate, invitation-only dinners at which the president took their questions behind closed doors.”

Moreover, the total number of small donors was deliberately inflated by a promotion run by the campaign in which anyone who gave as little as $5 was entered into a lottery for a dinner with Obama and Vice President Biden.

In other words, while the president is trying to sell the idea that his support comes from Middle America, the truth of the matter is that the interests that supposedly hate him are the same ones who are lavishing him with troves of dollars.

Who do you think genuinely has his ear? Bob or Cindy who donated $35 or big donors who threw in $35K a piece?