Hold on, Variety: back up there. Haim Saban's -not- meeting with Obama on Thursday?
That's not *burying* the lede. That's dumping the lede under twenty tons of quick-setting concrete.
By Moe Lane Posted in 2008 | California | Haim Saban | Obamafiles | Remnants Of The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (20) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Yes, I understand, superficially this article is supposed to be about the glitterati coming out for Senator Obama (Via Jake Tapper):
Sugar Ray Leonard and Jennifer Beals are the latest boldfaced names expected on Tuesday afternoon for Barack Obama's fund-raiser at the Los Angeles Music Center.
Also on the guest list are Dennis Quaid, Heidi Klum, Sidney Poitier, Cedric the Entertainer, Will.i.am and Kal Penn, as well as industry names like Ari Emanuel and Ron Meyer. Seal is scheduled to perform.
Very nice, I'm sure that Seal will do well performing his Song That Everybody Knows... and the rest of his repertoire. Celebrities a go-go tonight; all very well, and Obama should get a decent hunk of change out of it. But that's not the story. This is the story:
Obama is expected to reach out to others, like media mogul Haim Saban, who raised more than $1 million for Clinton's campaign. Asked by the Los Angeles Times whether he planned to attend a meeting that Obama and Clinton are hosting on Thursday with her top money men, he sent back a terse reply: "No."
[Bolding mine.]
Let me summarize the below-the-fold for you: if Barack Obama leaves California without a firm commitment of support from this man, then Barack Obama's trip was a failure.
Read on.
Haim Saban is one of those people that doesn't get talked about, much: he's not particularly interested in media scrutiny, for one thing. This is a bit odd, considering that he's in the entertainment industry. Then again, he's also the 102nd richest man in America, which means that he can buy a lot of media indifference. His major company was Saban Entertainment, which brought over Voltron, Dragon Ball Z, and Power Rangers: he later sold that to the Mouse for an insane amount of personal money.
Now, the time for the important bits (most of the links via Wikipedia: hey, it was handy):
* In 2006, his investment group bought Univision. Yes, that Univision.
* Open Secrets reports that he's personally contributed $96 thousand so far this election cycle, all to Democrats: he has been a rock-solid bundler and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton this cycle.
* His presence on the infamous letter to Pelosi telling her to keep the super-delegates out of the primary should be seen in light of his previous contributions, which totaled $11,386,000 in 2002 alone. The majority of that 2002 money - as in, all but $6,000 - went to either the DNC or the DSCC.
* His political interests have been self-described as "one-issue:" Israel. He's gone so far as to set up and fund the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a group which can get some interesting Google hits in the left-blogosphere - particularly when you add the term "Zionist."
* In 2004, he and his wife donated $2,000 apiece to George Bush's campaign. Why? Because as the NYT article above quotes, "On the issues of security and terrorism I am a total hawk."
So, let's recap. We have a powerhouse Democratic donor - one with deep pockets, a long history of commitment to the Democratic Party, a strong and very deep relationship with the Clintons, a non-negotiable and very public stance on an important foreign policy position (one that the Obama campaign could use some help with), and oh yes: at least some control over the largest Spanish-language television network in the United States of America. And this donor has publicly indicated that he will not be attending an Obama Unity meeting/beg-for-cash session. But Variety doesn't mention all of that. They certainly don't mention that the whole point of this trip is to get people like Mr Saban on board the Obama campaign.
I mean, it's nice that Dennis Quaid and Cedric the Entertainer will be attending Obama's little get-together. But it's not exactly relevant, is it?
Moe Lane
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Hold on, Variety: back up there. Haim Saban's -not- meeting with Obama on Thursday? 20 Comments (0 topical, 20 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Ever notice that most of the smartest and successful people in the world are not very good-looking? I'll take their opinion over some Botox-silicon-injected drama-club successs story any day.
I agree with you in that most celebrities in both Jock Kingdom and Hollyweird are a bunch of airheads. However, these endorsements are significant for the same reason that product endorsements by star athletes is significant. If certain star athletes wear Nike, dumb herd-followers wear Nike.
In the same way, if a celebrity endorses a candidate, dumb herd-followers will vote for the guy. So while it's stupid, it is newsworthy.
Impeach the 5 usurpers
I agree with you in that most celebrities in both Jock Kingdom and Hollyweird are a bunch of airheads. However, these endorsements are significant for the same reason that product endorsements by star athletes is significant. If certain star athletes wear Nike, dumb herd-followers wear Nike.
In the same way, if a celebrity endorses a candidate, dumb herd-followers will vote for the guy. So while it's stupid, it is newsworthy.
Impeach the 5 usurpers
A lot of people miss the fact that the Hollywood "talent" and "money" are rarely the same people. They often have the same cultural predispositions and goals, but this isn't always the case.
Israel is one of those areas that "money" and "talent" don't see eye to eye. I can fully see where Hillary would be seen as acceptable to the Hollywood pro-Israel types, but Barack scares the crap out of them.
If Obama wants the "talent" to host his campaign appearances and do commercials for him, then he won't have any difficulties. However, if he wants to tap into the cash cow, he is going to need to give some pretty serious assurances that his anti-Israel tendencies/biases/supporters aren't going to influence his presidency.
That is kind of hard to do with the Wright/Farrakan history, the Hamas endorsement, and his current crop of foreign policy advisors pulling him down.
"If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country."
He is not after the big money with the talent he is having there
He is appealling to the "young I don't have any idea of politics, but he surely is cool for who he hangs out with crowd" Who has more money to free spend or should I say donate. For someone who doesn't like big business, he stole this one from the playbooks.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
$2300 from both Haim and his wife to John McCain 2008?
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John McCain's people should be selling Saban on our guy's positions on Israel and the Middle East. This is an issue where McCain is clearly distinct from Obama and is clearly far superior. McCain should really work to get Saban on his financial team - not just getting a maxed out donation from the couple, but getting him to do some fundraising for us.
I am not a cognoscente but frankly when Democrats around me in NY start seriously saying they won't vote for Obama it's time to count the chairs; and they have done a lot of that opining lately.
Barry's campaign and supporters have seemed fairly bumptious lately, asserting we have no idea of the voting groundswell Obama will bring. It appears to me, he will have trouble just holding onto the base and their wallets.
One thing about pro Israel supporters Barry; they remember your first opines about issues important to them. They don't have ephemeral memory subject to your later supterfuge.
The giant sucking sound? That would be the money cyclone (with Bill and Hillary laughing in the background). Oh yeah, and don't count on the Power Rangers for help anytime soon.
"Nec Aspera Terrent"
bene ambula et redambula
Contributor to The Minority Report
The same way McGovern did.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
I have been saying for nearly a year that the Democrats would reverse their fortunes with a truly horrible choice of presidential candidate. Originally I thought the candidate was going to be Hillary. She turned out stronger and more able to capture the hopes and dreams of segments of the populace than I initially thought. Then they screwed her and found someone with as many if not more negatives and less competence.
I was thinking of doing an obama gaffe list page, but I have realized I would have to do daily updates.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
onto the base and their wallets: Yes, many of Hillary's bundlers are balking at helping Obama. Many of the Jewish ones have downright refused I understand.
excellent points- being Israeli I would hope that Chaim Saban understands Obama is the best present for Hamas and Achmedinijad that the 12th Imam could ever deliver..
and if the Olmert government falls on Wednesday and somehow Bibi Netanyahu gets back in, expect even more Jews to move towards McCain...
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
Israel, but donates to Democrats(?)... did I miss something? Wasn't Clinton (Bill) more an Arafat support? Sometimes, I just don't understand rich folk.
when they endorse a candidate. Who cares?? Evidently alot of people think us regular folks can't make a decision without someone on TV telling us what to think. I personally like to hear the news from people who make a living following this stuff and try and read between the lines.
I am no brilliant political commentator but I agree with you Moe. If Obama can't sway a guy like this, he seems to have some real problems. I think maybey Mr. Saban is the kind of person who doesn't want to throw money at a loser? Or it could be that he can see through Obama's BS (not hard to do, even for a dunce like me)and doesn't trust him.