Yesterday, President Obama released the list of reelection co-chairs who will work to help him stay in the White House for another term. Rick Santorum calls them “Kenyan Muslin Enablers” or “Democrats.” Mitt Romney calls them “People poorer than me,” and Gingrich refers to them as “Hippie baby killers in relaxed fit jeans.” Yes, of course, Newt. It’s hard to rule over someone using Druidic sanctimony if their jeans are comfortable. Everyone knows that. “No, really, former Speaker, go on I’m listening. These jeans, though, they feel like Chenille. CHENILLE! Really, feel them!”
Sadly, not included in yesterday’s report were the names of those helping Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich get elected, which we’re sure is a combination of bridge trolls and other prehistoric monsters funded by corporate sponsorship from Astroglide. Probably if Sarah Palin doesn’t make somebody’s list she’ll get back on a bus and start ramming it into national monuments or Romney’s summer home, which brings us to Eva Longoria, Wisteria Lane’s preeminent political darling.
Yahoo News reports that the reelection co-chairs will “serve as ambassadors for the President, advise the campaign on key issues, and help engage and mobilize voters in all 50 states.” Ha! I kind of see them all as fancy Napoleon Dynamites making Vote for Pedro Barack signs. Actually though we’re talking about a lot of really high-profile movers and shakers in politics, well, traditional movers and shakers and Eva Longoria. She’s listed as “actress (Well, maybe) and “philanthropist” (Really? Ok.) But they mean like a philanthropist-philanthropist and not like Philanthropist Kanye, right? We’re going to assume the president added Longoria to this list due to her support of the DREAM Act, and subsequent slamming of Mitt Romney for not doing so, and her work with the National Council of La Raza which led her to speak to the Senate about the issue.
In addition to the usual suspects which include senators and members of congress, and other former and retired government officials, the list boasts high profile names such as Caroline Kennedy, once courted as a senate pick before imploding amid a languorous session of waffling and oddity, Russ Feingold the former senator from Wisconsin who recently said the president’s embrace of super PACs was akin to “dancing with the devil,” Joe Solomonese, the president of the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign, and Kalpen Modi, star of television series House, and the Harold and Kumar movies who also did a stint as the White House associate director for the Office of Public Engagement. The Hollywood Reporter also notes an uptick in Hispanic representation with the addition of seven Latino co-chairs, as well as an interesting (strategic?) play to California with the state boasting six co-chairs from the list of their own.
No sign of other Chicago heavyweights like Oprah Winfrey, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be there to maybe help keep Biden’s P-O-T-A-T-O-E, or in this case R-O-A-D Island mishaps to a minimum?
Here are the full list of co-chairs:
- Lynnette Acosta — Obama campaign volunteer leader from Florida
- Marc Benioff — chief executive of Salesforce.com
- Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado
- Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio
- Governor Lincoln Chafee — governor of Rhode Island
- Ann Cherry — Retired teacher and Obama campaign volunteer leader from North Carolina
- Representative Judy Chu of California
- Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri
- Bill Daley — former White House chief of staff to President Obama, former secretary of commerce
- Maria Elena Durazo — executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
- Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago
- Russ Feingold — former senator from Wisconsin
- Representative Charles A. Gonzalez of Texas
- Loretta Harper — high school counselor and Obama campaign volunteer leader from Nevada
- Attorney General Kamala Harris of California
- Sai Iyer — student at Virginia Commonwealth University and Obama campaign volunteer leader from Virginia
- Caroline Kennedy — author and president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
- Eva Longoria — actress and philanthropist
- Felesia Martin — Obama campaign volunteer leader from Wisconsin
- Bishop Vashti McKenzie — African Methodist Episcopal bishop
- Attorney General Tom Miller of Iowa
- Kalpen Modi — actor and former White House associate director for the Office of Public Engagement
- Admiral John Nathman — Retired U.S. Navy
- Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts
- Federico Pena — former secretary of transportation and former secretary of energy
- Elaine Price — retired Ohio resident and Obama campaign volunteer leader from Ohio
- Penny Pritzker — founder and chief executive of PSP Capital Partners
- John Register — U.S. Army veteran and Paralympian
- Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
- Joe Solmonese — president of the Human Rights Campaign
- Alan Solow — partner at DLA Piper LLP and a past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
- Ted Strickland — former governor of Ohio
- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles
What do you think? Should Hollywood celebs/activists/philanthropists have a place on his campaign advisory list? Or should they purely be relegated to fundraisers and special appearances?
*Also, never, ever read the Yahoo News comments. Even though this one from Pete H. made me chuckle in spite of myself, the jerk. “That roster looks like the bar scene from Star Wars.” Horrible! Damn You, Pete! I’m such a sucker for a Star Wars joke.
Image: Source
