UPDATE 8/4/21: Obama has now entirely cancelled his birthday party. As reported by the New York Times, “Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends,” Hannah Hankins, a spokeswoman for the former president, said in a statement Wednesday morning. This article has been updated accordingly.
Taxpayers are already on the hook for at least $200 million of the cost of the Obama Center planned for Chicago’s Jackson Park, but they want more from you. Chicagoan Valerie Jarrett is president of the foundation building the center and was formerly Senior Advisor to President Obama.
Celebrate Obama’s upcoming birthday by sending cash, she tweeted Tuesday:
Jarrett recently said that the projected cost of the center has risen to “up to $700 million” — $200 million more than earlier claimed.
Meanwhile, plans have been cancelled, as noted above, for what was to be a lavish party to be held on Obama’s $12 million, 30-acre waterfront estate on Martha’s Vineyard. The bash reportedly will have 475 guests and be served by a staff of 200. Folks like George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey are expected.
Logistics for the party were proving a “nightmare,” one staffer involved told The New York Post. “His birthday party is insane,” the caterer had said. “His bash is a nightmare to pull off this time of year on the tiny island — especially due to the lack of labor because of the coronavirus. What is he thinking?”
What, indeed, was he thinking? That caterer asked the right question. Same question for Jarrett.
The Obama Center, if built, will stand as a fittingly hideous monument to the hubris of the out-of-touch, self-absorbed Obama crowd and to the misuse of government power, subsidized by Illinois and federal taxpayers, disfiguring one of the finest urban parks on the planet.
-Mark Glennon
This article was also updated to correct the amount of taxpayer contributions to the Obama Center, which is at least $200 million not $160 million.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
The UK has much better images of the festivities. One photo had some samples of food including a bottle of Hennessy next to a chip bag. Daily Mail.
Noticed the FAA restricted the airspace around the party from 8p Saturday till 6a Sunday. Wonder if there was celebratory gunfire at the end? Lots of Hennessy bottles discarded on the road.Daily Mail says it’s still going on today.
No one has yet addressed the most disgusting part of the whole deal! The OPC is NOT a presidential library. As soon as Obama has conned the city into giving him the lakefront land that belongs to the citizens, he will start a push to bulid his PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY. This will obviously be in Washington DC or Hyannis Port or wherever he next plans to add another personal mansion.
The initial sentence reads: “Obama has now entirely cancelled his birthday party.”
The next sentence reads: As reported by the New York Times, “Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends.”
Those sentences contradict one another – cancellation versus scaled back.
What do you expect? “His” “wife” is a dude.
The worlds largest outhouse is gonna need lots of bath tissue and air fragrances to keep the smell down inside that soon to be scab on the lakefront.
Since Valerie Jarrett has used her connections with the University of Chicago over the years to enhance the reputations of the Obamas by employing Michelle at Billings and then The Great One himself as an adjunct at the Law School, she knows that UC has pledged $30 million to the Obama Foundation. How can a school which has an endowment 20% that of Harvard’s almost 45 billion afford to give $30 million – one 501(c)(3) greases another 501(c)(3)’s palm? For what purpose? No transparency here. Must be desperate to go after the paupers. In 2009 Obama opined that in the… Read more »
Hmmmm… they’ve decided to scale back the crowd in the over abundance of caution liturgy? Maybe too much blowback? Val putting the arm on people? Perhaps a few of the invitees don’t like being fleeced. Maybe a more selective and intimate gathering will provide Michelle an opportunity for her new black satin square rigger gown!
Where is all the outrage over OPC being built in an Olmsted designed, National Historic Landmark? Public Parklands are to remain FREE and CLEAR. Remember, a 400 stall underground garage is planned. If one thinks there is lakefront flooding now, just wait until all the concrete is poured for underground parking. Have we learned nothing from the problems Museum of Science and Industry has had with their underground parking? This glorious park is an asset to the City of Chicago. Move OPC to Washington Park were another asset may be built for generations to enjoy. Washington Park was the original… Read more »
Mark, your endings are always the best and that one was fabulous.
I celebrate parties now in the Covid age, the more the better. I was at an unmasked wedding of 350 people Saturday, fun, crowded dance floor, hugs everywhere. I have no vaccine, and no Covid symptoms (yet), maybe Ill get natural immunity, maybe I already had Covid, who knows. The only thing wrong with Obummers party is everyone should be able to have a big party, or nobody. It seems only the powerful get to both have parties then the next day ridicule you for not wanting a vax or wearing a face diaper.
Do not worry about COVID. It is the FLU/COMMON COLD. They have been lying to everyone.
Truth Seaker, that, in my opinion, is an irresponsible claim. 4.2 million dead worldwide, 600K dead in the US. Even if you allow for the alleged excess counting in those numbers, COVID is real, though some of the numbers and supposed science are not. COVID remains a serious threat to the elderly and those with known comorbidities.
It’s pretty conclusive that this coronavirus was likely modified in some way in a lab in Wuhan, China with lax biohazard protocols. And it spreads far more easily than the cold or flu. Have you ever heard of someone with asymptomatic cold or flu spreading it to a dozen or more people at a party or restaurant? I haven’t. That’s what we are dealing with here.
I just watched Jean Ives facebook video with Kathleen Murphy questioning the CDC and the numbers, etc… The vaccinated rate vs. the uptick in Dupage County. I am aware that you and Ted have appeared with Jean recently about the misinformation regarding COVID and am glad to see it. So I wonder why you would claim my response was irresponsible, when we are all questioning the information. If they are lying now, do you not think they have been lying all along?
Good information is hard to come by, so I’ll share an anecdote. I was in the hospital late last year for a planned surgery. I had to stay for a week. On several of those days I had to be wheeled down to imaging for some post-surgery exams. While in the radiology waiting area, I watched as a series of poor souls were wheeled in with big teams of people, holding ventilators and monitoring equipment, and ensuring that the unconscious, motionless person was still breathing. The patients looked like they were about a few hours away from death. Their faces… Read more »
There is some evidence that the ventilator itself is a contributor to covid death because the chances of surviving the ventilator is slim.
I think there are a lot of things they are going to find out years later, that could have been done better. Ventilators seems like one of them, I agree.
Correlation vs. causation?
I believe that COVID has not been any more serious than an average FLU season of which we never resorted to any of these measures. Swine Flu in 2009 affected far more children and supposedly 250,000 very ill in hospitals and over 12,000 deaths. We did none of these measures. Covid is like a Flu is my point of view and I believe they are lying about the severity and the numbers to Control the masses. Sorry if you misinterpreted my point. You yourself are questioning the misinformation coming from various sources that are constantly changing. So much misinformation, how… Read more »
It is unfortunate how much disinformation has become the norm from our “leaders.” I agree with you, but was just sharing my own anecdote. I think this disease is very serious for a particular subset of people with co-morbidities.
I also think that the government has overstated the impact in a number of ways, but that doesn’t mean a person should dismiss the disease out of hand. Everyone needs to examine their individual circumstances and make their own decisions.
Agreed. But we cannot give up our freedoms and liberties over it. We have never done this before. People need to do what is best for them, but no one has any right to force their opinions or beliefs on someone else. If people are afraid they need to take precautions. Those of us who are not should be free to live our lives. Fear from the media has been a driving force for this. And we know we cannot trust the media. Fear is doing more harm than a virus. I am trying to tell people to calm down… Read more »
Very well said. I’ve never called for a “mandatory” anything, including masking. For a democracy/republic to survive, though, we need good, reliable information, otherwise people make stupid decisions that call for “the-government-must-do-something!” types to start screaming at the politicians.
So my only point is that diminishing the disease too much serves their purpose, and we should strike a balance of using evidence and common sense to prevent the government from their diktats, by showing we can handle this on our own.
People in Chicago need their heads examined – such a petty hustle by a first class huckster. No one knows what O’Bummers legacy is other than trashing America and grifting.
Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter showed us how it should be done.
the checks in the mail Valerie,will $10,000 help!?-pleaze dont cash it till the 5th tuesday of next month!!
Hmmm, wonder how many low income neighborhood black folks from obams “community organizer” days around proposed Obama center will be invited to the bash on Martha’s vineyard?
She’s the same little girl who used to hang ’round Daley’s door
Now she’s more connected than she ever was before
They call her Vaaaaaaaaaaaaaalerie.
And I thought I was the only one who remembered that song! Thanks for the laugh.
Sounds like a sequel to the Fyre Festival is in the works! 🙂