MSNBC host: Obama's party was 'unbecoming,' a 'terrible message' amid coronavirus case surge
'Raw feelings' among former Obama staffers who didn't make the cut for party, while celebrities did: NYT
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski dinged former President Barack Obama's star-studded 60th birthday party as "unbecoming" and a "terrible message" for Democrats on Monday.
Obama's Martha's Vineyard birthday party – which was slightly "scaled back" due to coronavirus concerns but still had hundreds of guests – was late-night fodder for the likes of HBO's Bill Maher, but Brzezinski said it "does seem a bit unbecoming or out of step" with the delta variant causing a coronavirus case surge.
New York Times reporter Annie Karni defended it as a party planned months ago in anticipation that COVID-19 cases would continue to dwindle, but she noted that apparently, "significantly scaled back" for Obama still meant a large crowd congregating and dancing at tents outside his ritzy estate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The people who got cut, according to my reporting, were a lot of the former administration officials who really credit themselves with building the legacy that allows Obama to enjoy the post-presidency popularity among this crowd and there were some raw feelings about what looked like a two-tier system," Karni said. "But in the end, he had the big party, there were mixed feelings about whether that was a good look for Democrats, for Obama himself, and we learned that significantly scaled back did not mean a dinner party with 12 close friends and his family."
"No. In fact, very high-level Democrats, folks in the White House even, were pretty upset about this," Brzezinski said. "It’s sending a terrible message that the party doesn’t need right now, for sure."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Celebrities like Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Bradley Cooper made the cut in spite of the surge in cases, and a lot of Obama supporters were left disappointed, Karni reported. The same correspondent raised eyebrows over the weekend when she relayed one defender's assessment that the Obama partygoers were a "sophisticated, vaccinated" group.
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However, Karni also noted celebrities like Chrissy Teigen who attended come with a "hair and makeup team" that someone like David Axelrod, a former Obama adviser who wasn't allowed, wouldn't bring with them on the island.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some residents of the ritzy Massachusetts enclave were upset with the party, while others said if people were tested and vaccinated, any outrage over Obama's party was overblown, Karni added.