Democratic Strategists Worry President Is Too Close to Hollywood

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President Obama is working hard to rebuild his support among Hollywood celebrities and leaders of the entertainment industry, who strongly backed his 2008 campaign with their endorsements and their money. And it looks like he's having considerable success, judging by his trip to donor-rich California this week.

But some Democratic strategists wonder how close the president should get to Hollywood elites at a time when millions of Americans are suffering economic hardship and have little tolerance for the self-important dabbling of movie and TV stars in politics and policy. The Hollywood crowd brings excitement and stirs public interest, but getting too close could make Obama seem to be a showhorse when a workhorse is what people really want. [See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.]

There had been some concern among Democrats that entertainment industry leaders might not open their wallets for the 2012 campaign after celebrities, including actors Matt Damon and Robert Redford and director Michael Moore, expressed disappointment in Obama because he hasn't delivered on more of his promises.

But in Los Angeles this week, there was no dearth of stars at Obama's fund-raisers. He attended one event Monday hosted by actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith that included 200 guests, who each paid at least $5,000. Obama also spoke at a separate fund-raising dinner attended by 40 persons, including actor Will Smith and former basketball player Magic Johnson, at a cost of $35,800 each. On Tuesday, Obama attended a private meeting in Los Angeles of entertainment-industry insiders including studio executive Harvey Weinstein and record company executives Livia Tortella and Craig Kallman. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "It was not a fundraiser. It was just a discussion — brief, very brief, like 10 minutes — with some supporters." Of course, the checks will probably arrive later. It won't be clear how much money Obama has raised from Hollywood until official fundraising reports are released at year's end. But the receipts should be impressive. [See editorial cartoons about President Obama.]

Obama told his Hollywood guests that, even though he has had his share of setbacks, he remains committed to a sweeping agenda of change. At one point, Obama referred to a checklist of his top priorities and said, "We've got about 60 percent done. I'm pretty confident we can get the next 40 percent done in the next five years."

This is what the Hollywood crowd wanted to hear. The question for Obama is how closely he wants to be associated with the stars when his target audience should be more down to earth, in Middle America.

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A New Democratic Attack for a New Ryan Plan

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Home > Politics & Policy > Washington Whispers > A New Democratic Attack for a New Ryan Plan

September 29, 2011 Print

As if his earlier proposal to reform Medicare didn't give Republicans a bad case of heartburn, a new health reform scheme from Rep. Paul Ryan to rewrite workplace health insurance and provide universal health coverage through tax credits is starting to give the GOP fits.

Earlier this week, Ryan proposed a new system that would push employees to buy their own health insurance. Under his plan, employers would no longer get tax write-offs to provide insurance, and instead workers would get refundable credits to buy health insurance on their own. [See a collection of political cartoons on the budget and deficit.]

It would be a huge step toward giving workers greater choice, but is a move that is sure to scare employees who've already faced pay and benefit cuts from companies.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wasted no time in attacking the plan, hoping it would refire their waning assault on Ryan's earlier Medicare reform package. Some 50 vulnerable Republicans were targeted by the DCCC's press operation through a release that said, in part, "Ryan acknowledged his new plan doubles down on his earlier controversial budget proposal to end Medicare."

[Read: First Medicare, Now Ryan Tackles Tax Code.]

Today, they claimed one victory: New York Republican Rep. Chris Gibson. His local paper, the Glens Falls Post Star, quoted his spokesman saying that the lawmaker wouldn't endorse the new Ryan plan until he saw more details. "Until he (Ryan) comes out with legislation or a formal proposal, we're not going to be taking a position on it," said the spokesman.

The DCCC is pressing local media to ask their lawmakers about the amended Ryan plan in hopes of raising new concerns about the GOP's plans on healthcare. Republicans felt that they succeeded in fending off Democratic attacks on the earlier Ryan Medicare reform plan and predict that they will again against the latest criticism.

2011: 2010: 2009: 2008: 2007: 2006:

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Will Rick Perry's Democratic Past Hurt Him at the Polls?

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry has comfortable leads against his rivals for the 2012 GOP nomination, and with front-runner status come attacks. Fellow Texan and Rep. Ron Paul fired one of the first shots across his bow, attacking Perry for being "Al Gore's Cheerleader" during the 1988 campaign. Perry, who was a Democrat until 1989 and supported Gore's 1988 run for the White House, has billed himself as a rock-ribbed conservative, and one of the most damaging labels in politics is that of a turncoat or flip-flopper. Will this attack have any bite against Perry?

Politicians have been known to evolve. Ronald Reagan came to Hollywood as a staunch Democrat, but grew into a Republican. "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me," Reagan explained. Hillary Clinton's first foray into politics was as a "Goldwater Girl" in high school, supporting Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's 1964 run for the White House before the Vietnam years turned her into a Democrat. And the South's gradual transition from a Democratic stronghold into a Republican stronghold left many politicians changing their stripes, including some current lawmakers such as Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby.

[See a slideshow of the 2012 GOP contenders.]

Perry's own political evolution mirrors that of Texas, which had been growing from Democrat to Republican until the GOP began to dominate in the late 1980s. Even before he joined the GOP in 1989, Perry pushed conservative themes as a Democrat, joining other state legislators to push for budget cuts. His endorsement of then-Tennessee Sen. Al Gore in 1988 may sound bad now, but Perry can reasonably argue that the self-proclaimed "raging moderate" was the most conservative Democrat in a field which included minister Jesse Jackson, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, Illinois Sen. Paul Simon, and former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart.

"I was under the false idea that conservative Democrats could save the Democrat Party. They couldn't," Perry told talk show host Sean Hannity, echoing Reagan's assertion that it was the party, not him, that had changed. He has said Al Gore's support for the so-called "Star Wars" missile defense system was a key reason he endorsed the Tennessee senator, although Gore actually had blasted the system shortly before the 1988 campaign began.

Unfortunately for Perry, Gore lost the 1988 race, but went on to become the Democratic standard-bearer in 2000, and now has a saintly status among liberals--while being a lead villain among conservatives--due to his work as an environmental activist. "Regardless of the fact that Al Gore was the prolife conservative Democratic candidate in 1988, that's something that a lot of folks just don't get," says Andrew Langer, president of the conservative Institute for Liberty. "They know the Al Gore of 2000, the Al Gore of An Inconvenient Truth, and the Al Gore who represents the poster child of the attacking progressive left of the modern age."

[See cartoons about the GOP 2012 primary.]

Nevertheless, it's unlikely that the issue is going to cause huge headaches for Perry. For starters, his chief rival for the GOP nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, may hesitate to bring up the "flip-flop" issue lest it brings more attention to his own political evolution on issues such as gay rights and abortion. Romney, who during the 1994 Massachusetts Senate campaign said he would be a stronger advocate for gay rights than his-opponent, Ted Kennedy, was seen by many conservatives as an opportunist uncommitted to conservative principles during his run for the 2008 GOP nomination. Perry's more conservative opponents, including Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, are likely to use the Democrat label while also noting the Texas governor's more moderate stances on immigration reform, to claim that he is less committed to the conservative cause than they are. Perry's answer to the question may be enough to win over skeptical voters, but explaining can be a distraction during campaigns.

"It's so easy to answer, but you have to answer it," says University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato. "You have to spend time and resources to answer it."

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