As President Obama himself might put it, he "should've anticipated the optics." While speaking at a fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut on Tuesday, Obama cast the 2014 midterm elections as a fight between moneyed interests in the Republican Party and populist Democrats. "If Republicans win," he said, "we know who they'll be fighting for: Once again, the interests of billionaires will come before the needs of the middle class."
Obama's argument was undercut, however, by the fact that his fundraiser was hosted by a billionaire named — no joke — Rich Richman. Donors paid as much as $32,400 to attend, and the estate where the event was hosted is valued at a cool $26 million.
While the President was speaking in Richman's home, a mass email went out in his name asking for donations to support House Democrats in tight races. The pitch? "Republican groups are spending massive sums against us." Bad optics, indeed.
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