President Barack Obama blew off a crowded theater of supporters to rub elbows with big money donors in northern California.
Obama left a crowd of 1,100 supporters at Fox Theater hanging after overstaying a big-ticket fundraiser, according to New York Times reporter Peter Baker.
The audience was being shown the campaign’s 17-minute promotional film. The movie ended with stirring tones, the lights came up and then … nothing. The stage stood empty for long minutes and no one came out, much less Potus. The crowd grew antsy and began chanting, "Obama, Obama!" Finally a woman took it upon herself to keep the audience busy, shouting, "Fired up," followed by the crowd responding, "Ready to go." After a few minutes, that died down. Then a man started chanting, "Four more years," until that died down too. More minutes drained away with no one on the stage, no one addressing the crowd.
The campaign charged attendees $250 for the Redwood City event, a steep drop from the $35,800 Obama charged a crowd of Silicon Valley executives and celebrities at its preceding fundraiser.
This being California, a few other celebrities came as well, including the actor Don Cheadle and the musicians Graham Nash and David Crosby, who planned to perform. Mr. Obama teased Mr. Cheadle about a basketball game that evidently went badly for the actor. As for two of the members of Crosby, Stills and Nash, he said, "It’s not every day you get Rock and Roll Hall of Famers strumming their guitars for you."
When Obama finally took the stage at the theater, he attacked Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The negative tone of Obama’s campaign rubbed off on his supporters. The theater "hissed" at the very mention of Romney’s name, Baker said.