WASHINGTON–If no deficit/debt/spending deal is made by the Aug. 2 deadline–then I hear President Obama will not be jetting to Chicago on Aug. 3 for a big 50th birthday fund-raiser to benefit his bid for a second term.
After I wrote about the fund-raisers at the Aragon Ballroom, with tickets ranging from $50 a person to $35,800 per couple, which includes VIP seating at a “Birthday Concert” — it got wide pick-up. Republicans and anti-Obama outlets ripped the Obama team for planning the fund-raiser while congressional leaders and the White House are deadlocked and can’t agree on a financial package to avert an Aug. 2 U.S. default.
Here’s what’s happening:
The fund-raiser was planned before the default crisis loomed. The date was tied to his birthday–Aug. 4–not to the default deadline. Obama’s people–on the White House and fund-raising sides–say Obama is not going to a fund-raiser in Chicago if there are more pressing matters.
