The Obama event registry: ‘Ask your wedding guests to give the gift of Obama’

posted at 12:29 pm on June 23, 2012 by Howard Portnoy

Erika Johnsen has done an estimable job of skewering Team Obama’s latest ploy for extracting a pound of cash from the wallets of hapless Americans, but I couldn’t let this one slip by without a few remarks of my own.

First, let’s the stage: You are getting married or celebrating an anniversary or milestone birthday with a big gala. On the invitations, you ask that your guests make a donation to a worthy cause or charity instead of giving you a material gift. It is a noble gesture and one that demonstrates your arrival at the pinnacle of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: self-actualization.

Leave it to the Obamaites to sully the moment by introducing the quintessentially self-serving Obama event registry. “Got a special milestone or event coming up?” the text on the page asks before making this humble suggestion:

Instead of another gift card you’ll forget to use, ask your friends and family for something that will go a little further: a donation to Obama for America. Register your next celebration—whether it’s a birthday, bar or bat mitzvah, wedding, or anniversary—with the Obama campaign. It’s a great way to show your support for a cause that’s important to you on your big day.

I like how the last line of the spiel intimates that supporting four more years of Obama is “important to you” (clearly, judging from the president’s latest approval ratings, the website isn’t intended for everyone), but consider the overall message, which might be translated thus: “To mark this special occasion, you could ask your co-celebrants to give the gift of sight or the gift of life. Instead ask them to give the gift of Obama.” The man whose chutzpah knows no limits has just declared himself as important as fighting cancer.

FOX News observes that elsewhere on the site, the prospective donor is told, “It’s a great way to support the President on your big day. Plus, it’s a gift that we can all appreciate—and goes a lot further than a gravy bowl.” I don’t know, can I see the gravy bowl before I make a decision?

It is understandable that Team Obama is running scared. Despite initial projections of topping his own record for donations in 2008, Obama may became the first incumbent in history to be outspent by his opponent. In May, the Democratic National Committee raked in $60 million against the Republican National Committee’s $76.8 million. But the Obama event registry is far beyond the pale of his past shenanigans, which include his Truth Team and AttackWatch. It is a new low for his campaign and the ultimate triumph in self-absorption. A pox on them.

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