Barbara Streisand, who wrote in her blog that “McCain Doesn’t Get It: Women are not that stupid,” appeared to be a big money fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama as the singer became the headline performer.
The Oscar-winning singer and actress was set to perform Tuesday night on Obama’s behalf in Beverly Hills. It was to be a two-step evening with a reception and dinner costing $28,500 a person followed by a later event featuring Streisand at $2,500 a ticket.
Obama was flying to Los Angeles after an appearance Tuesday morning in a Denver suburb.
The wealthy fundraiser comes on a day when the crisis in the U.S. economy remained an urgent issue for many Americans. Monday’s sharp sell-off left the Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index down by more 4 percent, eroding the value of individual retirement and investment accounts, for example.
Barbara Streisand originally backed Sen. Hillary Clinton but She switched to Barack Obama when he emerged as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Barbara Streisand has been outspoken in criticizing John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket as she expressed her statement on her blog:
“This calculated, cynical ploy to pull away a small percentage of Hillary’s women voters from Barack Obama will not work. We are not that stupid!”
Senator Barack Obama is financing his presidential race with private contributions after abandoning a pledge to take public financing capped at $84 million. His campaign announced Sunday it had collected $66 million in August, a fund raising record for any presidential candidate in a month long period.
By comparison, John McCain raised $47 million in August, a personal best for his campaign as well. After claiming the GOP nomination, McCain accepted the $84 million in taxpayer funds allotted the public financing system for the race.