The first time I heard the expression "limousine liberal" was during New York Mayor John Lindsay's reelection campaign in 1969.
Let's just say it's a dilemma. You can't do anything in politics anymore without a lot of money. So, you go to rich people for political support because that's where the money is.
Barack Obama raised an estimated $3 million at a fund-raiser hosted by TV mogul, Oprah Winfrey last week. A gushing description by Varsha Rao posted on The Huffington Post was, frankly, one of the most disgusting, nauseating celebrations of capitalist wealth and celebrity I have ever read.
Break out your handkerchiefs when you read the part where Oprah "with emotion" told the glitterati she feels "blessed to be living the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. made possible."
Tickets to the sold-out private event went for $2,300 apiece, keeping them within campaign finance limits.
Stevie Wonder performed for guests, who included Sidney Poitier, Forest Whitaker, Chris Rock, Cindy Crawford, Jimmy Connors, Linda Evans, Dennis Haysbert and many others. Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Halle Berry also were expected. Visitors were bused to Winfrey's secluded home from an equestrian center where guests arrived in limousines, BMWs, Bentleys and a few hybrid Priuses.
By the way, it's a measure of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of my fellow African-Americans that I have not found a single criticism of this decadent display on the usual Black-oriented web site or blogs.
Where is the criticism of the "Black Middle Class" that we get all the time here in Los Angeles?
The Martin Luther King/Harbor Medical Center closes in South L.A. and we're told its the fault of the "Black Middle Class."
The Los Angeles Unified School District is a disgrace and we're told it's the fault of the "Black Middle Class."
Everyone here knows my brothers and sisters can get self-righteous at the drop of a hat over how us Black folk are all "poor" and "Whites" just don't understand.
But I guess if you are a Republican billionaire like Oprah and her "boyfriend" Steadman Graham, you can do whatever you like.
Read more on my blog at:
Obama and Oprah -- As Far As You Can Get From South Central Los Angeles.