Obama to turn on star power
President Obama, whose popularity ratings are approaching Tom Hanks levels, is coming back to town next month, but this time around he plans to schmooze Hollywood -- big time.
During his visit to Los Angeles in March, there was a good deal of talk that Obama, who had assiduously courted Hollywood for money and support during the campaign, didn’t make time for even his closest industry supporters. Insiders drew unfavorable comparisons between his hit-and-run schedule and those of Bill Clinton’s when he was president. Whenever Clinton -- who is in Hollywood himself this week -- came within a tank of gas of Wilshire and Little Santa Monica, you could expect a meet-and-greet.
Hollywood seems to be weathering the recession better than most traditional pockets of Democratic support, so Obama may have fat wallets as well as fragile egos in mind as he works through this next schedule.
A whole series of events with major industry players is in the works, but this week, invitations went out to a May 27 “Evening With President Obama” at the Beverly Hilton. (Evidently, the president has lost his reluctance to appear at formal high-society events amid a recession.) The event will be Obama’s first major fundraiser since taking office. Expect major stars to mingle with the president and perform.
Think the inaugural bacchanal with better weather and food. Proceeds from the “reception and VIP dinner” will benefit the Democratic National Committee.
Those “proceeds” could be considerable, since the event is expected to sell out, and individual tickets to the reception will run $2,500. The VIP dinner tab will be $30,400 per couple. (Is that $400 for the tip?) According to the invitation, the price of dinner includes “a meet & greet and photos with our President.”
No word on the menu, but at $15,200 a person it virtually qualifies as a stimulus package for the hospitality industry.
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Amanpour steals show from Leno
It takes a lot to hold your own with Jay Leno on stage, but the star of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s glittering Fifth Annual Global Women’s Rights Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Wednesday turned out to be CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour.
Leno and his human rights activist wife, Mavis, were the evening’s hosts, and NBC’s sultan of chat turned in a hilarious performance in the role of fundraising auctioneer. It was Amanpour, however, who held the audience -- and her lucky table mates, including local activists Peg Yorkin and Roz Wyman -- rapt with her incisive views on foreign policy issues, particularly in Afghanistan, where the situation of women is a major concern of Mavis Leno and the Feminist Majority.
Amanpour, honored for her courageous reporting from inside Afghanistan, said it’s imperative that the world offer not only humanitarian aid to the battle-torn region but also assistance in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and government to end the horrid poverty and discrimination.
“The U.S. took its eye off the ball when it went into Iraq,” Amanpour said. “It’s had a profound impact on everything: the rise again of militarism, the increasing corruption and the rollback of significant advances that were made for women.
“In several key areas, schools are being closed down and attacked, girls are attacked or intimidated, women are being assassinated,” she said. “These are very significant threats to women. . . . I’m sufficiently culturally aware that you can’t turn Afghanistan into Beverly Hills, nor do you want to. You can’t turn Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy, nor should you. One should respect their culture and their laws. But there are also universal rights and laws that need to be upheld. I feel very passionately about this as a woman, as a journalist and as a citizen of the world.”
Other honorees included Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and producer Abigail Disney and director Gini Reticker, who made a documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” about Gbowee’s efforts to halt her country’s 14-year civil war; “Law & Order” executive producer Neal Baer and actress Mariska Hargitay for their efforts to educate television audiences concerning violence against women; and Los Angeles activist Billie Heller, who has worked for nearly three decades to win U.S. ratification of the International Women’s Rights Treaty.
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The young ones rocked the vote
Industry activists are touting new figures out this week showing that Hollywood achieved one of its major goals in November’s elections -- getting more young people out of the multiplex and away from the TV screen and into the polling booth.
Norman Lear, the entertainment industry’s political elder statesman, devoted his entire effort during the last election cycle to registering new voters, and Rock the Vote is citing the numbers released Tuesday as proof of its similar effort’s success.
According to a census report, more than 22 million Americans ages 18 to 29 cast ballots in November, a record for that group. It also was the third election in a row in which the youth vote has increased.
In the 2000 general election, only about 15.5 million young people voted.
“After decades of being written off by the political world as disengaged and apathetic, America’s young voters turned out to the polls in droves and reshaped the political landscape,” said Heather Smith, Rock the Vote’s executive director. “It is time to put to bed the question of whether or not young people will vote and start focusing on whether the priorities of this voting bloc are being addressed by the people we elected.”
Both Lear’s group, Declare Yourself, and Rock the Vote used online election “tools” to sign up new voters this time around. In Rock the Vote’s case, that allowed the group to double its registration figures to more than 2.6 million.
As this week’s numbers show, more than half of all the registered voters in the 18-29 category turned out on election day versus just 40% in 2000. Of course, a guy named Barack Obama might have had something to do with that.
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