On the evening of May 10, 2012, a grand banquet was prepared for a glittering banquet in a mountain mansion in Los Angeles, hosted by the famous American actor George Clooney, and his chief guest, Barack Hussein Obama.
Then-US President Barack Obama attended the banquet for only one purpose - to make money. To put it bluntly, this is a campaign fundraiser. Often watch the news, the audience who know the US election must know that the campaign is very expensive, how to do W, has always been a key learning, and today's fundraising banquet, Obama and his team vividly showed the world that the US election, engaged in W, can no longer be described by learning, it has to be art - before the start of this star-studded fundraising dinner, the organizers estimated that the amount of money raised was 6 million US dollars, but they really underestimated Comrade Okuguanhai, after the event, The amount of campaign funds raised was as high as 15 million US dollars (about 94.46 million yuan), which directly set a record and became the highest single fundraising banquet in the history of American politics.
So, what exactly made this fundraiser so successful?
Support homosexuality
On May 9, the day before the fundraiser, Obama surprised the nation in an interview with ABC — "I made the final decision that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
Obama's announcement means that he has become the first president in U.S. history to publicly support same-sex marriage. Although Obama quickly folded several buffs on himself after speaking, stressing that "this is only a personal opinion", whether to recognize same-sex marriage, the decision is still in the hands of the states themselves", but his public statement still caused an uproar.
Don't forget, it was 2012, when the United States had not yet evolved to the era of the demons dancing under the current "political correctness", compared with the later Sichuan Emperor and Rare Emperor period, when Obama took office, the political and public opinion atmosphere in the United States was still relatively normal. Gay marriage, abortion, and the death penalty have always been very sensitive topics in the United States, and politicians have generally been cautious about these issues. Especially at that time, the American people were generally conservative about gay-related issues, and only 8 of the 50 states officially recognized same-sex marriage. Even the Democrats, which are more open to homosexuality in both parties, dare not take too big a step for fear of being careless.
Moreover, Obama's political spectrum also has such a peculiarity - he is the first black president of the United States, and this identity has unsurprisingly made black voters his vote bank, but coincidentally, the support of the black community for homosexuality in the United States has been low; Many people believe that Obama's sudden jump out to announce his support for gay marriage is not buying a stone to smash the pot - he is looking for a stove.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the whole country was shaken by the president's words. Germany's "Die Welt" newspaper said that this unfathomable and sensitive topic once again kept "the American people awake at night."
The reaction from all walks of life in the United States was mixed, and gay and human rights organizations were naturally jubilant and called for practical actions to support Obama's re-election; I can't wait to split myself in half and vote for a president who has made an unprecedented statement on homosexuality. The US "Newsweek" even boldly called Obama "the first gay president" on the cover, and also marked a rainbow halo representing homosexuality on his head - I don't know what Comrade Okuguanhai himself thinks of the rainbow ring on his head in this picture, anyway, first lady Michelle is estimated to have a green head and a black eye.
But politicians and a small group of bright-headed people feel like a mirror about this. Apparently, this is just a calculated political gamble to win funding and votes.
Well-considered gambling
Looking back at history today in 2022, the tolerance of homosexual issues in American society has undergone a huge turn.
If you've seen Sean Penn's Oscar-winning film "Milk," you might remember its beginning: back in the fifties and sixties, when police raided gay people in gay bars. At a time when the justice system was still heavily discriminating against homosexuals, this was just commonplace.
The prototype of the protagonist of the film is Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person in American politics. Milk ran successfully for the San Francisco City Board of Supervisors in 1977 and actively promoted the Gay Rights Act, but was assassinated by another politician in November 1978. However, Milk also became a representative of the gay rights movement in the United States. In those days, the "Milks" probably did not anticipate that in just thirty or forty years, the overall perception of homosexuality in American society would have changed so dramatically.
It can be described as idle but unpopular. Eight years ago, the Republican camp used issues such as opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage to help George W. Bush succeed in his re-election. But over the past eight years, acceptance of same-sex marriage has increased. There are even some Democratic and even Republican politicians who openly acknowledge or favor legalizing same-sex marriage. The change in their attitude does not reflect the change in the opinion of the "votes".
In this regard, analysts believe that Obama's dangerous move, while getting gay rights supporters, intends to take the opportunity to attract more young voters who tend to support gay issues to come forward and vote, and even win more independent voters.
Of course, both Obama and his opponent Romney can see clearly: at the end of the day, economic issues are at the top of the list of issues that affect this year's election, while social issues such as homosexuality are far back in the list — and Obama cares more about pro-gay statements than direct votes, in exchange for the support of funders, to supplement his team's campaign funds.
Make a bold statement and monetize immediately
One-sixth of Obama's main "financiers" are gay. Immediately 90 minutes after Mr. Obama's pro-same-sex marriage remarks, his campaign received $1 million in political donations, all from the gay community. That afternoon, Obama attended a private luncheon for Seattle Democratic donor Bloom and a public fundraiser at the Paramount Theater, with another $3 million in receipts.
The next day, May 10, the scene comes to the scene at the beginning of the video: Obama attends a fundraiser gala hosted by Hollywood star George Clooney. At the banquet, Obama called yesterday a "sensational news" but that support for gay marriage is an extension of the American spirit: "Aren't we a country that includes everyone, gives everyone a chance, treats everyone equally?" As soon as the words came out, the guests applauded, and on this night, Obama raised another $15 million, the highest amount raised in a single fundraiser in American political history.
Wealthy Wall Street and star-studded Hollywood have long been the two major fundraisers for American politicians, and Obama must win at least one side if he wants to compete with the deep-pocketed Romney. And Hollywood has always been an important base for supporting the legality of same-sex marriage, and needless to say, Obama "risked" to express support for same-sex marriage, an important purpose is to show favor to Hollywood and win the support of the latter.
Some people may ask, the campaign is out of money, and there are tens of millions of dollars in the account of a statement on a certain issue on TV, and this money is too arbitrary, right?
No, you can say that this beautiful knife is easy, but you can't say that this wave of operations comes randomly. Obama's series of operations is not indiscriminate, he came prepared: just three days before Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, then-Vice President Biden (yes, the current American rarity) suddenly gave the president a "surprise": in an interview with the media, Noboruko suddenly stated his position on same-sex marriage, saying that he "fully accepts" gay marriage and that gay couples are entitled to "full equal rights" with heterosexual couples.
Vice President Biden's statement can make the media excited, at this time is the critical period of the alternative, on the issue of homosexuality, the Democratic Party is more cautious, as a teammate in the same trench, not waiting for the president to speak, Noboru himself first publicly shouted, this wave is when this face is diluted - a confused face, which is equivalent to forcing the president to open his mouth. At this time, the eyes of the media are on Obama, looking at Dengzi's stubble, how the president plans to take it.
However, before Obama could respond, Deng Zi pulled - pulled down his face to apologize: According to an unnamed US official, Biden apologized to Obama shortly before he was interviewed on the 9th. Biden's office issued a statement saying: "On this issue, the president is in charge from the beginning, and the vice president has never intended to change it." Translated: Xiao Dengzi is not sensible, talking and playing, and all news is subject to the president's dictum.
Obama was also smart enough to simply go down the slope and claim that he had planned to support same-sex marriage later, but Biden's remarks "pushed the plan a little earlier" — translated: Nobor's words were very much to my liking, and supporting same-sex marriage was already part of my plan.
In fact, from another point of view, Biden's seemingly sudden statement suddenly attracted the attention of the American media, quite a warm-up, and Obama immediately after the interview on May 9 officially showed his support for same-sex marriage, which suddenly exploded American public opinion, and coincidentally, the fundraising dinner mentioned at the beginning, which gathered many stars in Hollywood, happened to be scheduled for the next day on May 10, unswervingly eating this wave of traffic, and the media were afraid of not being hot, and added reports, The president's speech on gay issues at the dinner was right in the hands of the Obama team.
For the movie stars invited to the conference, between supporting homosexuality is the consistent position of Hollywood since the 90s, you can't get rid of it, it's not appropriate, since you want to come, well, pay the tickets first, the price is not expensive, just $40,000; It's coming, the president is dry on stage, you don't pull a dime, it's not good to spread this matter, donate a little, just make a friend, support the gay and lesbian equality movement, eh - don't force how much to donate, close your eyes and press the number, donate more and donate less; For the wealthy Hollywood celebrities, this is certainly not a loss-making transaction, spending tens of thousands of dollars can be close to the president, and also comes with a buff of "defending freedom and fighting for love", which has a blessing effect on his future acting career can be imagined.
And for ordinary people, after a series of headlines, everyone's appetite has been whetted, whether it is Obama's staunch supporters or people who just want to watch the excitement, they all contributed a lot of money to the event.
That's right, how can politicians who have always been well versed in "enjoying with the people" make the audience stare dryly? In order to avoid the American people having money and no land to spend, the intimate organizers have carefully designed all kinds of circle money - ah no, entertainment. Familiar with the essence of the card draw game, they packaged the whole banquet into a large draw scene, first of all, two "civilian" VIP seats were reserved for this banquet, as long as you spend three dollars, you can participate in the ticket lottery, and if you win the ticket, you can interact with the president and more than 150 influential big names on the spot, of course, contraband such as sniper rifles and handcuffs cannot be brought in.
There is no upper limit to the number of participants, and the fight is all about luck. Eventually a science teacher named Beth Topinka
and a professional cheerleader named Karen Blutcher were lucky enough to win both tickets, becoming the only two civilians at this star-studded dinner.
The organizer was not lively enough, and took out a part of the funds to carry out the lottery lottery, limited to the time before this dinner event, taking advantage of the popularity of the dinner event to suck another wave of lottery money. The decision turned out to be the right one — in hindsight, of the $15 million raised that day, profits from the lottery portion accounted for the lion's share. Sure enough, kryptonite card draw is human nature.