(iStock.com)
In retaliation against the Obama administration’s lack of perks –and their dislike for former social secretary Desiree Rogers— a number of wealthy Democratic donors have decided to keep their wallets closed this year.
According to Politico, the Obama administration hasn’t offered donors the perks they’ve come to expect. Clinton was “notorious for White House sleepovers” and Bush kept donors in the loop about policy happenings.
Rogers stepped down in February in the wake of the White House gatecrashers scandal, and has been criticized for not lavishing enough attention on the party’s big spenders, and particularly for committing the terrible faux pas of not sending them Christmas cards last year.
But even as the Democratic National Committee has received $30 million more than it did in 2005, it’s still experiencing a financial drop off among top donors. Unlike the year before, Politico says that “only 15 –or just 10 percent– of the 150 biggest fundraisers for the Obama campaign gave the maximum $30,400 to the DNC last year.”
This may not seem like a big deal (or a surprise in a non-presidential election year) but it could have a major impact on the upcoming midterm elections.
In a way, this may be some of the best news out of the White House in a long time. Boo-hoo-hoo, the plutocrats aren’t getting their perks. What a refreshing change of pace!
But it’s also yet another reason why we need campaign finance reform. For wealthy people to be able to impact elections because they don’t get sleepovers in the White House or because the social secretary gets fired is beyond absurd. What policy “happenings” was Bush informing his donors about? Did that information give his donors an unfair advantage in business or the stock market? Is this a regular practice among U-S politicians? Probably. Is it representative democracy? Hardly.
The point is that money has so polluted our politics that the rhetorical differences between the parties is just a show for us rubes, while the really big questions get bid upon in Congress and in the White House by powerful lobbyists and individual donors. Issues don’t get decided on the merits and it undermines the democratic process.
Our political process can’t work just for the people with the most money. Both parties are guilty of selling themselves to the highest bidders, and all of us, of every political stripe, suffer as a result.
