President Barack Obama collected some big bucks Thursday night at a star-studded fund-raiser in the New York home of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Among the guests: actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin; comedian Jimmy Fallon, designer Vera Wang, singer Alicia Keys, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who co-hosted the event. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was also there as the guests packed around five tables in a basement room.
Hundreds of people awaited the president’s arrival on the streets of the West Village near the Weinstein residence, a multi-story brick row house. Weinstein said he had been trying to persuade his wife for three years to have a housewarming party and it had taken Obama to make it happen.
“This is a pretty good-looking crowd,” Obama said.
The president talked about how he had been in Michigan earlier in the day, and how refreshing it was to be outside of Washington.
“What I said to them is, ‘You deserve better than you have been getting out of Washington over the last two and a half months, for that matter for the last two and a half years,'” he said. “They look at what is happening in Washington and think these folks are from outer space. They don’t seem to understand how critical it is for us to work together.”
He said the good news was that Washington had reached a low point and now the energy from the public will help change things. “If that energy is harnessed and tapped I am absolutely convinced this country is going to be on the upswing in the next couple of years,” Obama said.
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 US credit rating.
“I don’t know if you noticed when the stock market went down. What did everybody buy after the downgrade? US Treasuries,” he said. “The market voted with its feet.”
The president attended two fund-raisers while in New York. The first, at the Ritz Carlton, was a small reception for just 15 guests. He gave no general remarks at that event, which was closed to reporters. 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.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal