2nd UPDATE, 7:34 PM: President Obama raised millions tonight in New York at two fundraisers, and he also got in his second visit with David Letterman since taking office. His Late Show With David Letterman appearance went from the fun (the President’s weight and Clint Eastwood’s chair interview of an invisible Obama at the RNC) to the serious (the violence resulting from the anti-Islamic film Innocence Of Muslims). Obama’s visit with Letterman, his seventh overall, will be broadcast tonight (see the promo below). Afterward, the President spoke to a $12,500-per-family crowd of about 200 at a campaign event at the Waldorf Astoria. He kicked off his speech with a dig at Eastwood: “Hello, everybody! Hello! (Applause.) Hello, New York! (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you so much. If you have a chair, go ahead and use it. If you don’t then — don’t.”, he said according to a transcript of his remarks released by the White House. The visit to the Big Apple was crowned by a $40,000-a-ticket dinner tonight hosted by Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z. Two attendees didn’t have to pay the going rate: Kindergarten teacher Ericka Dungee was the winner of NYC With Barack contest. Dungee brought her husband Bill with her. The dinner was at the 40/40 Club, which Jay-Z owns. The campaign pulled in $4 million from the dinner.
Here’s my condensed and edited version of the White House Pool reports of Obama’s remarks at the Beyoncé and Jay-Z event. Pool reports of the Letterman appearance follow:
POTUS spoke to about 100 people at a fundraiser hosted by Jay-Z and Beyoncé at the 40/40 Club. Tickets for cost $40,000. Donors in suits and dresses sat on sofas in a large, dark glassy room. Small tables of wine, champagne and finger food, including sliders, were in front of them.
Beyonce, wearing a red cocktail dress, and Jay-Z, in a suit, introduced POTUS. Both said very little.”I can’t tell you how proud we are to host tonight’s event with President Obama,” Beyonce said. “We believe in his vision.”
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Well, it is wonderful to see all of you. I’m so grateful for all your support.
Let me just begin by saying to Jay and Bey, thank you so much for your friendship. We are so grateful. Michelle and Malia and Sasha are mad at me because they are not here. (Laughter.) That doesn’t usually happen. Usually they’re like, we’re glad you’re going — we don’t need to go. But every time they get a chance to see these two they are thrilled, partly because they are just both so generous, particularly to my kids. And Malia and Sasha just love both of them.
Beyoncé couldn’t be a better role model for our daughters because she carries herself with such class and poise — (applause) — and has so much talent. And Jay-Z now knows what my life is like. (Laughter.) We both have daughters, and our wives are more popular than we are. (Laughter and applause.) So we’ve got a little bond there. (Laughter.) It’s hard, but it’s okay. It’s okay. (Laughter.)
POTUS was more subdued while speaking at this event, though he hit many of his same themes. POTUS said he wanted a “more fair, more just” world. “We’ve made history in the past and we’re going to make history in the next seven weeks.”
PREVIOUS, 3:58 PM: In his first visit to The Late Show With David Letterman in almost three years, Barack Obama touched on the topics of Clint Eastwood and chairs and the Mitt Romney videos that are dominating cable news today. But the violence resulting from the anti-Islamic film The Innocence of Muslims seemed to make up the bulk of the interview. After The Late Show visit, the President’s headed over to a $12,500 per family fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria. About 200 people are expected to attend that event. Then it’s over to a $40,000 a ticket dinner for around 100 people with Beyoncé & Jay-Z. Here’s a condensed White House Pool Report on Obama’s seventh Letterman appearance, followed by a video preview of the President on the CBS show tonight:
Wearing a dark blue suit and light blue tie. Letterman said he looked great and immediately asked how much he weighed. The president responded that he weighs about 180 pounds, which prompted Letterman to say he weighs the same but doesn’t look so good. “You look good,” Obama replied. “You haven’t seen me
naked,” Letterman said. Obama: “We’re going to keep it that way.”
POTUS laughed when Letterman asked he wanted to say something to the empty chair next to him.
Letterman asked about the Romney video. I don’t know what he was referring to.” “One of the things I learned as president is you represent the entire country.” “If you want to be president, you have to work for everyone.” ‘All of us make mistakes…What people want to know though is you’re not writing off a big chunk of the country because the way our democracy works…This is a big country.” Obama said traveling the country he never meets anyone ”who doesn’t believe in the American dream.”
Asked about the violence in Libya last week that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Obama said the administration’s top priorities now are to “refortify” security at American embassies abroad and to bring the murderers to justice. He criticized the offending anti-Muslim video that triggered the violence, but he said the video was not an excuse for violence. The message we have to send,I think, to the Muslim world is, we expect you to work with us to keep our people safe. And as offensive as this video was , and obviously, we denounced it, and the united states government had nothing to do with it, that’s never an excuse for violence. And in this part of the region, as they emerge, into a new form of government, part of what they’re going to have to do is to recognize that democracy is not just casting a ballot, it’s respecting freedom of speech and tolerating people with different points of view, and it means that you’ve got to make sure that you never have any excuses for the kind of violence against innocents we saw last week, and that’s a message that I’ve sent very clearly to the leaders of various countries, and we expect their full cooperation, because that’s the only way the international order works.”
RELATED: Mitt Romney Talks To Fox News About Secret Recording: Video
PREVIOUS, 1:21 PM: Air Force One has landed at JFK Airport, Marine One has landed near Wall Street and Barack Obama is in the car, according to the White House Pool Report. The purpose of President Obama’s visit to New York today is a double shot of fundraisers and a return visit to Late Show With David Letterman. The Letterman appearance is first on the itinerary, with Obama heading to CBS’ Ed Sullivan Theater at 54th and Broadway for a 1:40 PM PT interview with the late-night host that will air tonight. This is Obama’s seventh visit toLetterman – his second since taking office. After a fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria, Obama moves on to Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club on West 25th Street for a $40,000-a-ticket dinner featuring the rap star, his wife Beyoncé and an expected 100 other supporters. The event is expected to raise around $4 million. Like previous celebrity dinners with George Clooney and others, there will a couple of guests at the event who won their place there. Obama is scheduled to speak to the gathering around 6:45 PM.
Related: Obama Campaign Book LA’s Nokia Theatre For October 7 Fundraiser
If you feel like you’ve heard this routine before, you’re right. Today’s trip is similar to his June 14th visit to the Big Apple that included a fundraiser at Sarah Jessica Parker’s house and a Mariah Carey-hosted event at the Plaza Hotel. Obama is expected to leave New York at around 8 PM tonight to head back to the White House.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.



Another tireless day of pimpin’ like a rock star…
Amen…..and don’t forget about the $800 bottles of champagne……
The entire Middle East is in flames and he’s going to hang with celebs. No other President would do this NYC trip at this moment and last week he flew to Vegas for a fundraiser the day after our ambassador was killed by the mob in Libya. Obama is such a phony. He’s the artifical man. Disgraceful but obviously seeing Dave and Jay Z and Beyonce is more important than doing his job. Disgusting.
Agreed
COULD NOT AGREE MORE. Well said.
It’s called campaigning moron. It happens every four years.
You are right, Bush never did fundraisers in 2004 when we were at war. Oh, wait…
No worries, the middle east will still be in flames when all the party hoppin’ is over. Its all good!
Welp, middle east is still screwed up, economy is screwed up, but hey say hi to Dave and Jay-Z for me, Barry.
All of my favorite things in this article. Letterman always has great interviews with President Obama.
Obama -liberals -media- those on the dole- dont care what he does- they vote for him blindly- sad.
Yep. We sure do.
Retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel.
Thanks for the prescription for democracy dude. You’re obviously calling all the shots over here through talk show appearances and fundraisers. Breaking things down and presenting the obvious-to-a-child as spoon-feeding revelatory underscores your basic approach to everything : sliding genuine responsibility for everything to some other person, faction, or party. In this way, and not for effectiveness in the slightest, you will remain Top Dog Big Man on Campus for another excruciating four years.
When was the last time a Republican sitting President appeared on a late night talk show?
Obama was quite simply a media creation who got himself elected on a wave of FALSE optimism, and who turned out to be one of the worst presidents we have ever had.
Agree with your comment. This is the first president that has been on TV more times than any of the others.
Letterman hasn’t been funny since the ’90s; he’s just become a total leftwing partisan. He wouldn’t ask Barry a hardball question if his life depended on it!
Letterman could have asked him some good questions but Dave’s a wimp.
Why were the Marine guards outside our embassies not given live ammo for their guns? The Marines were completely defenseless they had no bullets just blanks as if they were ceremonial soldiers in a parade.
How come the warnings about imminent pre-planned attacks in Libya and Egypt were ignored? Why are they blaming the stupid video? Because the State Department doesn’t want to admit they were negligent and liable.
Good to know Curious George is more interested in keeping his job than the state of affairs of his country’s people both here and overseas. I know the economy is bad and everyone wants to keep their jobs but this is ridiculous. Politicians need to be taught that they SERVE the people. If I had $$$ I’d blanket the media with commercials to vote ANYONE currently ‘serving’–Democrat or republican–OUT OF OFFICE. Extreme, yes, but it seems that’s the only thing politicians care about, their re-election.
“One thing I’ve learned as president,” Obama said, “is that you represent the entire country.”
Ohh really…you are confident about having learnt that one thing in the past 3.5+ years, Mr. President?
Well you better save the empty rhetoric for those tens of millions of Voters in Red States and elsewhere who feel you don’t represent their interests on virtually any level.
When do you intend to share with Them the memo on that, kind sir?
The residents here in the South may hate Obama but they enjoy driving on new roads (infrastructure built by stimulus funds), they enjoy driving American cars (thanks to the bailed out US auto industry), they enjoy a world without Osama Bin Laden, and they will benefit from not being denied health insurance due to pre-existing conditions. He’s represented them just fine whether they know it or not.
Exactly.
You do realize that a good chuck of the stimulus money at the height of the Great Recession went to red states to help them balance their budget right? Do you also realize that the states that stand to benefit the most from Obamacare are traditionally Republican states? Those are just two of the many cases where he’s represented the entire country…especially the part of the country that didn’t vote for him.
Just cause you don’t like his politics doesn’t mean he’s not governing on behalf of you.
President Obama, try telling Dave or Jay-Z that he didn’t build his career.
Here is the entirety of the “didn’t build that” speech. It’s not about government building things for people, or taking credit; it’s about succeeding because “we do things together.” It’s about having a good teacher in your life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw8Uze31t8k
When people make comments about how the President doesn’t do his job and hangs with celebrities instead, they show they have absolutely no idea what this man accomplishes day in, day out. Try reading the latest article in Vanity Fair or visiting Politico where his daily schedule is posted. He does more in a day than you could possibly imagine.
Get over it. I think the man knows how to multi-task. Laughing it up at the foreign correspondents dinner while hunting down bin Laden? Priceless.
Dave Letterman is a big, unfunny fool, and the prez looks about as non-presidential as can be while so much work needs to be done. Leave behind the damn talk shows and read some intelligence briefs! I;m sure this appearance will go a long way in swaying any undecided voters out there.
The sooner Obama is out and off to Hollywood to chill at the Peninsula with movie stars the better.
Really solid guy. That’s the impression I get when I see that clip of Obama. Unity, hard work, compassion, pragmatic. Great guy, great message.
A solid guy would have increased security at the embassies and consulates when warned that an attack was imminent. A solid guy would actually attend more then 43% of his Intelligence briefings. But by all means base your vote on an appearance on the Dave Letterman show, while the Middle East is in flames.
So glad he is working so hard at work!
nothing says “relating to the common man” like hanging out with Letterman, Jay Z, Clooney..
Don’t be an idiot. That’s where the money is.
He’s just picking up his paycheck.
You got somethin’ against capitalism?
Man, and I thought Jimmy Carter was a bad President…. this guy is unbelievable.
-RnsW
And Mitt Romney is out of touch? Seriously? Obama makes me sick.
Why not do it? The press doesn’t take him to task for it and that’s all that matters They are an extension of his re-election campaign and they have his back
we are so fortunate this fine person is willing to be our president.
Be careful, your sarcasm is showing.
Well bully for Beyonce and her millions of dollars. Meanwhile, I just lost another gig to a production that left state because it’s cheaper to film elsewhere, thanks to tax incentives and cheaper labor VS California. I’m glad all the celebrities and movie stars are so in love with him, while the rest of us are freakin’ struggling and drowning here.
I really don’t care for Romney’s personality, and I doubt he cares about my well being any more than Barry does, but I gotta say I’m learning more towards the guy who is talking tax cuts than the guy who just pumped 40 billion more into the coffers of the very corrupt banking institutions who put us in this mess to begin with. You think any of us will see a dime from QE3? Dream on, children, dream on.
Then someone should explain to you how tax rates for individual competing states are decided AT THE STATE LEVEL and not by the federal government or POTUS. Also, if you’re struggling or “drowning,” you should consider that according to the CBO with the ending of middle class tax incentives in Romney’s proposed budget plans, he will “pay” for his tax cuts in the billions for the wealthiest Americans by cutting services and tax relief for the middle class.
But logic is hard to come by for some in this country.
Sorry, but Obama went to Texas and told the college kids, if Texas did not lower tuition costs then he would withhold federal funding until they did. Guess what? Obama did nothing. Obama sued Texas instead for refusing to implement the ppaca. Obama sued south carolina for offering Boeing a place to setup shop. Obama sued AZ for trying to do Obama’s job that Obama refuses to do. Obama has a lot of ability to help the CA economy and refuses to do it. Obama can help the united states, he just won’t.
Amen Raine!
Man NervisRex… while you’re out of work, you REALLY need to do some reading and get your facts straight! I know you’re angry but at least know who to be angry at and why. Your statements are so miss guided it’s scary.
And your comments make sense?????
Let’s remember how Romney responded to the violence in the Middle East, and how his trip overseas went earlier this year. Yes, he’s just a candidate at this point but it should give you a pretty good idea of how he would respond if he were POTUS. We should also remember that much of the anti-Americanism is the direct result of policies and cultural attitudes that came to fruition on Republican watches.
And, frankly, Presidents have been engaging in these kinds of activities for decades now. Campaigns cost money, and many American voters have proved that they regard the President as a product. At least when Obama is at these events he’s not trying to actively ridicule half of the population.