Gwyneth Paltrow sat next to Jimmy Fallon, with Anna Wintour and Pharrell Williams sitting nearby. But tucked into the back of Harvey Weinstein’s basement last night was one face that hadn’t been seen with President Obama at any of his New York fund-raisers so far this year: Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I’m lucky enough, and he knows it’s true, to say that I was one of Governor Cuomo’s earliest supporters,” Weinstein told the crowd.
“Yes, yes,” Cuomo called out. “Angel investor.”
“You are an angel,” Weinstein gushed.
“That’s the first time anybody’s ever called him that,” Obama said.
The room burst into laughter.
Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama said his troubles are like the ones facing Cuomo.
“When I ran in 2008, I think that a lot of folks believed we elect Obama and suddenly we’re going to fix politics in Washington,” Obama said. “And Andrew is familiar with this, because everybody figures, well, we’re going to fix politics in Albany.”
“And then it turns out that there are a lot of bad habits that have been built up over time, and we’re also a big, diverse country and not everybody agrees with me; not everybody agrees with the folks who live in Manhattan,” he said, drawing laughter from the rich celebrities that filled the room. “West of here,” he said. “You guys may not be familiar with it.”
The comparison was something of a stretch. Obama is struggling to recharge the national economy amid an increasingly deadlocked capitol split along party lines, while Cuomo, for his part, isn’t struggling much.
He passed a budget without raising taxes or destroying social service programs, and passed a landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriage, turning the state government in Albany from “dysfunctional” to hyperactive, in under seven months. (Cuomo attended the fundraiser as an invited guest, and did not pay, according to a source.)
Before leaving, Obama likened himself to referenced one more figure. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I think that we forget when he was alive there was nobody who was more vilified, nobody who was more controversial, nobody who was more despairing at times,” he said. “But what he understood, what kept him going, was that the arc of moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”
While attending a fund-raiser the night before in Manhattan for Rep. Charlie Rangel, I asked Cuomo — who has not left the state since becoming governor in January — if he would travel beyond New York to help Obama.
“I would help the president in any way that I can,” Cuomo said, on the third floor of the Crown Plaza hotel. “So, any way that I can help him, I will.”
Back inside Weinstein’s five-story red brick townhouse on Bank Street, was one more figure key to electing Obama. Patrick Gaspard stood in a dark suit and solid black tie with his arms folded.
Gaspard was the White House political director during the first half of Obama’s first term, before moving to the Democratic National Committee to become their executive director. Before that, Gaspard was head of political strategy for the New York-based healthcare workers union, 1199 SEIU.
The union strongly backed Cuomo in his 2006 race for attorney general and 2010 race for governor. The two men recently attended a fund-raiser in Manhattan for the president. The Daily News recently quoted an unnamed source who said Cuomo “wants him [Gaspard] back in New York after the president’s re-elected.”
[Note: This item was updated to correct and expand Obama's remarks about Martin Luther King, Jr.]
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[...] yet another fundraiser. Despite being amongst the most liberal of supporters, Obama tried hard to lift his own image in parity with others:Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama said his troubles are like the ones facing Cuomo.“When [...]
I love it “Big Brother” Obama is raising money from the “FAT CAT” Democ”RATS” who’s taxes he bats to raise, and the reason they have all this money is that the Republicans don’t want to raise there taxes.
I say TAX THEM AND TAX THEM AGAIN
Before there was the “Oracle at Delphi” there was Count Vampire J. Machiavelli
VJ Machiavelli
The Legislative Budget is Too Damn High
[...] Cuomo, but then Obama also compared what he was going through to the trials and tribulations of Martin Luther King, Jr. (via Sam Foster): Before leaving, Obama likened himself to one more figure. Martin Luther King, [...]
[...] http://www.politickerny.com/2011/08/12/obama-compares-himself-to-cuomo-weinstein-calls-andrew-an-ang… GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "ffffff"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "bbbbbb"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "333333"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "1c9bdc"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_url", "1c9bdc"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "politics"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "loose-pollen"); GA_googleFillSlot("LD_ROS_300-WEB"); Share this:EmailPrintFacebookTwitterStumbleUponLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
Wow – What’s next for Obama? Comparing himself to Ghandi? Nah, he eats too many burgers and fries for that.
Same Patrick Gaspard that the Dems violently defended as NOT having headed up SEIU efforts now is touted for . . . wait for it . . . heading up SEIU efforts.
Lame stream media, come out of your kool-aid induced haze. Time is running out for America.
[...] Obama Compares His Criticism to Martin Luther King Jr.By Brian Koenig – August 13, 2011Posted in: Blog Archives While whining about his incessant criticism from conservatives and Tea Partiers at a fundraiser in Manhattan on Friday night, Obama played the MLK card. Indeed, he compared his suffering to Martin Luther King Jr.’s suffering. From Politcker: [...]
[...] The Politicker reported, via Poor Richard’s News: Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama said his troubles are like the ones facing Cuomo. [...]
[...] While whining about his continuous critique from conservatives and Tea Partiers at a fundraiser in Manhattan on Friday night, Obama played a MLK card. Indeed, he compared his pang to Martin Luther King Jr.’s suffering. From Politcker: [...]
[...] The Politicker reported, around Poor Richard’s News: Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama pronounced his troubles are like a ones confronting Cuomo. [...]
“The comparison was something of a stretch. Obama is struggling to recharge the national economy amid an increasingly deadlocked capitol split along party lines, while Cuomo, for his part, isn’t struggling much.
He passed a budget without raising taxes or destroying social service programs, and passed a landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriage, turning the state government in Albany from “dysfunctional” to hyperactive, in under seven months. (Cuomo attended the fundraiser as an invited guest, and did not pay, according to a source.)”
To compare a sitting President to a Governor isn’t exactly intellectually honest, whether it be a positive or negative comparison. While there will always be a few similarities here and there (both are excutives dealing with divided legislatures), a complete comparison is nearly impossible considering the variables. Barack Obama is the President of the United States and the Head of the Democratic Party, a national party that in the words of Will Rogers “is not an organized political party”. In other words the National Democratic Party has the discipline of a two year-old, while the National Republican Party despite the uprisings amongst its base has been largely unified.
Gov. Cuomo comes from a Northeastern state that had largely managed to avoid the Republican tidal wave of 2010, a state that is partial to the Democratic Party, and has a Republican Party that is almost irrelevant outside of the State Senate. Cuomo has positioned himself as socially liberal, and fiscally conservative, he has earned the praise of Republican Governor Chris Chrisite and the Tea Party.
While Barack Obama has positioned himself as some sort of vague centrist. He’s trying to play Clinton on domestic policy and a slighly more liberal verson of Bush on Foreign policy, he hasn’t been too successful at either task. Futhermore, the politics for the Presidency and the Governorship of New York aren’t comparable, one is a national landscape that gets alot of attention, the other is more focused and localized. In other words Texans don’t really give a shit about the politics of New York. They do give a damn about whose in the White House.
Now when it comes to legislative accomplishments I would argue that Obama and the Democratic Congress have accomplished a great deal in Obama’s first term (similar to Cuomo). Health care Reform, auto bailout, stimulus, start treaty, don’t ask don’t tell repeal, increased funds for pell grant, took over student loans, race to the top, Dodd-Frank, increased troops in Afghanistan, Bin laden is dead, bombed Libya…I mean still bombing Libya, Reauthorized Patriot Act.
A whole lot got done, its just with exception of the bin laden killing not all of it was popular or seen as a success.
[...] Politicker, NY: [...]
[...] “I think that we forget when he was alive there was nobody who was more vilified, nobody who was more controversial, nobody who was more despairing at times,” he said. http://www.politickerny.com/2011/08/12/obama-compares-himself-to-cuomo-weinstein-calls-andrew-an-ang… [...]
[...] The Politicker reported, via Poor Richard’s News: Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama said his troubles are like the ones facing Cuomo. [...]
[...] The Politicker reported, around Poor Richard’s News: Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama pronounced his troubles are like a ones confronting Cuomo. [...]
[...] (PolitickerNY) — Standing in Weinstein’s basement, Obama pronounced his troubles are like a ones confronting Cuomo. “When we ran in 2008, we consider that a lot of folks believed we elect Obama and unexpected we’re going to repair politics in Washington,” Obama said. “And Andrew is informed with this, since everybody figures, well, we’re going to repair politics in Albany.” [...]
of course they are not democrats at all.
obama is a right wing republican and cuomo too a shill for wall street.
to say he passed a budghet without raising taxes is total dishonesty like christi says in nj.
what they do is TAKE away MONIES THAT WERE GOING TO THE POOR AS GRANTS ETC SO THEY CLAIM TAXES WERENT RAISED.
who do you think picks up the check??