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Barack Obama’s guest list a who’s who of bad omens
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

Maybe he’s not superstitious, but should Barack Obama really be having dinner with Mike Dukakis and John Kerry - in August?

What’s next for Sen. Obama, a day of windsurfing on Nantucket with Liveshot? Or a tank ride in Michigan with the Duke?

Granted, Barack raised $4.8 million on Monday night with his 47th birthday party in the State Room at 60 State St. But 33 stories up in the sky, the vibes had to be positively Christmas Carol, with Barack as Ebenezer Scrooge, and the losers of ’88 and ’04 as the ghosts of elections past - and lost.

“In life I was . . . Michael Dukakis.”

And look, over in the corner, is that John Kerry - or an undigested bit of beef, as Charles Dickens would put it.

Sen. Kerry, of course, had to have a major role in the proceedings. He introduced Barack, at length. At great length. According to an eyewitness, it was one of those endless Kerry perorations that eventually had the limousine liberals glancing down at their wristwatches. Barack leaned over and whispered something in Gov. Deval Patrick’s ear.

But Kerry didn’t take the hint. He went on . . . and on . . . and on. Somehow he thinks that the longer he talks, the more people will forget about tar babies and botched jokes and penis straws. Au contraire, Liveshot.

First, they allowed the hoi polloi, the ones who could come up with a few grand, a glimpse of the Prophet. After a while, the plebeians were ushered out, and the greedheads who could afford the $15,000-per-plate (or $28,500 a couple) got to have their photos taken with Our Next President.

Ask yourself, where do these people keep all their framed photographs of themselves with Democrat losers down through the decades? Just last year, many of these same Beautiful People dropped 10 or 20 large to have their photos taken with Hillary Clinton, not to mention Bill. Almost all of them paid big bucks for their photos from 2004 with America’s Gigolo. And the older fat cats were all photographed with the aforementioned Mike Dukakis, who, 20 years ago this month, had a 17-point lead over George H.W. Bush.

According to a witness, the crowd was a mixed group - rich Harvard types, rich trust-fund liberals and rich developers. Basically, the kind of (rich) people you see in the luxury boxes and the dugout seats at Fenway - but only at a playoff game, not against, say, Cleveland or Seattle. They give those tickets to the help.

These Ivy League pukes who were chowing down on the “heirloom” lettuce are the same snots who went to their first Celtics game in 15 years . . . in June.

This was a party with a very heavy carbon footprint. At least a few of the greedheads flew up from Nantucket or the Vineyard on their private jets. Ice floes melted, polar bears wept - Happy Birthday, Obama! Priuses were not used to ferry the BP’s to 60 State St.

And what was up with the roasted porcini-crusted sea bass? I thought sea bass was, if not endangered, at least “not sustainable,” to use an Al Gore-ism. Oh well, you know what the Beautiful People say. Do as we say, not as we do.

Look, there’s Lawrence “Lost” Tribe, the Harvard Law prof. Thank God no one mentioned the Commonwealth Day School on Brattle Street. Then, there were Mr. and Mrs. Dick Friedman, the Clinton’s hosts on Martha’s Vineyard. Joe Fallon from Fan Pier. Ed Fish’s boy, John. Jack Connors, and Paul Guzzi. Rosabeth Moss Kantor. Massachusetts Congressmen Fast Eddie Markey and Bill “Double Dip” Delahunt.

Liz Walker was there in a red dress, although I’m not sure if she stayed for dinner. Mike and Kitty were talking with Paul Pezzella, and the Duke seemed fixated with how many “precinct captains” were “on the ground” in Florida.

Speaking of forgotten, but not gone, is that . . . John Sasso? Nice tan, Chad Gifford! I see Wayne Budd, Richard Morningstar, a hedge-fund guy named Scott Nathan, Paul Sagan of Akamai, bigshot Harvard donor Paul Buttenweiser - hey, Paul, this Bud’s for you.

and there’s Thomas Lee’s ex-wife Barbara, perennial local loser pol Chris Gabrieli, Liveshot’s wannabe-pol brother Cam Kerry, Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farms yogurt, Bob Crowe, Jonathan Lavine of Bain Capital, and Barry White - no, not that Barry White. This Barry White is from Foley, Hoag, although I’m sure this Barry White, too, would say to Barack that he’s never ever gonna give you up, because Barack is his first, his last, his everything.

These are the Beautiful People Barack Obama spent his birthday with. John McCain, meanwhile, spent Monday night with thousands of motorcyclists at the giant annual bike rally in Sturgis, S.D.

And some people say Barack is an elitist. Go figure.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1111290