‘Baracklyn’ fundraiser: Should you give your beer money to the president?

So, you want to participate in the the most important election of your lifetime (other than the last presidential election, and the one after this) but you’ve already put in time at the phone bank. Short of committing light voter fraud by not updating your voter registration from its current Pennsylvania swing state status, what else can you do?  The folks behind Baracklyn, an Obama fundraiser being coming to Brooklyn Bowl on Monday, would like you to participate in our democracy the old-fashioned way: by opening your wallet, or just handing it over to them, really. Guests include Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Jonathan Safran Foer, and a performance by Steve Earle (and there’s free babysitting too). Should you do it? Cynical opinion-mongering awaits you below!

If you were even considering going after seeing the minimum $250 price tag attached to it, I gotta say I’m impressed with your wealth. That’s just to get inside the fundraiser. You still have to pay for drinks, and you’ll need a lot of them.

That’s because once you’re in, you’re going to find yourself surrounded by people who will “vote for the president no matter what,” as the Facebook page for this thing says. Do you think you’ll get to mingle with the actual celebrities if you buy the cheapest ticket? HAH! Don’t even front like you have $2,500 to blow on the VIP access.

Fundraising is a necessary evil on every level of politics, I get it, sure. But even with his problems among the hysterically touchy Rand-humping rich jerks set, Barack Obama isn’t sitting down to $40,000 per plate dinners all by his lonesome. If you want to give something and can’t afford $250, at least give it through one of those poor canvassers on the street. I can speak from experience —that job is brutal.

Follow Dave for more dispatches from left of left: @Herbertharper.