'Can He Really Think He's More Important Than the Tens of Thousands of People Trying to Get Home to Their Families?'

Does Obama think he's more important that the little people? Does anyone even need to ask that question? The hero of the working people showed up in LA Monday to grab some cash from Hollywood fatcats and with his usual impeccable timing did so at rush hour.

Despite inconveniencing anyone wanting to drive, the LA Times spins wildly.

With a quick visit to Los Angeles at rush hour, President Obama raised $1 million Monday for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He also alienated some Angelenos, at least temporarily, as his motorcade mangled evening traffic en route from the Beverly Hilton to the Hancock Park home of producer John Wells, whose credits include "West Wing," "ER" and "Southland."

Onlookers lined Olympic Boulevard, snapping cellphone photos. One person held a small sign declaring, "We need jobs."

Although it was a friendly crowd, the street closures snared not just vehicles but pedestrians — if calls, e-mails and posts to The Times' website were any guide.

So the Times apparently was inundated by e-mails, calls and posts, yet it was a friendly crowd that was stuck in their vehicles?

Sure.

"I was an Obama supporter, but … was stopped by police from crossing Olympic to get home … during my daily dog walk," Amy Christine said on the website. "I've lost all belief in his judgment. Can he really think he's more important than the tens of thousands of people trying to get home to their families?"

They said if John McCain was elected people would be stopped randomly while walking their dogs...

The Los Angeles Police Department said that it had received several calls from people about the traffic and that the Secret Service had not shared street-closure information with the department.

Immigration rights supporters demonstrated in Hancock Park dressed in costumes from "The Wizard of Oz." Their signs asked, "Obama, where is the reform?"

Despite the anger and frustration in the streets, the atmosphere inside the fundraiser was relaxed.

So wait a minute. There was anger and frustration in the streets, but it was a friendly crowd? Man, I'd hate to see what an unfriendly crowd looked like.

Meanwhile, things were even friendlier with the beautiful people.

The president strode to the microphone in the cool of the setting sun, amid a garden of lemon trees, a manicured lawn and a long aquamarine pool.

"What a spectacular evening," Obama said. "Let's just hang out."

Let's just hang out. That pretty much symbolizes his presidency. He'd rather hang out, be it with athletes, movie stars or on one of his myriad vacations. He wants to play president, but not really do anything.

About 200 people attended, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- San Francisco), J.J. Abrams, Judd Apatow, Taye Diggs and his wife, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel.

The entry fee was $2,500, but co-hosts — including Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, and Barbra Streisand — paid $30,400 a couple. They didn't all attend, however.

Obama told the crowd that he and congressional Democrats, through the economic stimulus measure, had "made the biggest investments in clean energy in our history — building solar panels and wind turbines and advanced batteries."

Oh yeah, clean energy. A lot of good that does while tying up LA traffic during rush hour.

Obama will move on to Washington state to hang out some more today.

Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in Seattle Tuesday for his first visit as president, part of a three-day, five-state blitz to raise money for Democrats heading into the fall elections.

Poor thing will be exhausted after that five-state blitz. Oh well, he'll have 10 days of golf, ice cream and staged photo-ops on Martha's Vineyard to unwind before getting back to doing what he does best: hang out.

Update: When you've lost the HuffPosters...

It took my wife an hour and half to make the two mile commute home Monday, after the secret service closed some of LA's busiest streets at rush hour to shuttle the president from his Beverly Hills hotel to a fundraiser for Congress hosted by the producer of West Wing.

As the White House tweeted about Potus meeting the Hollywood West Wingers, LA's usually-snarled Westside traffic stood still. Moms and dads couldn't get home. Child care providers raked in the after-hour penalties. The liberals once flooded with hope had nothing but road rage for their inconsiderate president, as they tuned in their car radio to find he was keeping them from their families to raise big bucks for a Congress, which has an approval rating only slightly north of Al Qaeda

But remember, it was a friendly crowd.

Update: Here's a sampling of some really "friendly" comments.

I am outraged that the president has chosen rush hour to travel through LA, and that law enforcement has not adequately routed traffic elsewhere. Obama has single handedly alienated hundreds of thousands of voters leaving them stranded for hours, unable to get in my case a few blocks. I finally left my car illegally parked in a permit only neighborhood just to get home. If I get a ticket, I will most certainly contest it. It's very hard to understand the total lack of respect for the working class here.

...

That's it, I'm done. I even voted for him, but now I'm convinced that I'll vote for anyone but him in the next election. If this is how he handles something as mundane as a visit to Los Angeles, I have zero confidence in his and his team's ability to navigate the complex issues facing the country today. Who's the incompetent who figured it was OK to shut down Santa Monica and Olympic during rush hour? And how about the radio traffic reporters who said that they couldn't tell listeners which streets were closed because of "security." Someone should lose their job over this...in addition to Obama in 2012.

...

A million people can't get home tonight, and for what? So a tiny group of fundraisers can kiss Obama's butt for a few minutes? Tonight Angelenos learn what this President thinks of them. We are all nowhere near as important, trying to get home to our kids from our jobs, as the President's fundraiser.

This isn't the first time it's happened either, but by far the worst. When he was here for Boxer's thing a few months back that was a traffic disaster as well. He really needs to stay the hell out of this city unless he can take his chopper to the event.

My, how friendly.