# In reversal, President Obama to accept corporate donations to help fund inauguration **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841 "2012-12-12T17:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/41 "2012-12-13T19:49:46Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Well, every since Citizens United, corporations have been people to. And who’s to say that they don’t enjoy a good party now and then. > > Seriously, I’m not seeing the outrage here. Unless you’re going to argue that Obama is going to be beholden to Exxon for the next four years because they sprang for canapes and ice sculptures at the inauguration. Exxon exec: Dude?! What the FUCK do you mean we can’t drill in Manhattan?! I got two words for you - _Ice Swan_, know what I’m sayin’? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/42 "2012-12-13T20:34:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > He’s better than the alternative, because the alternative is the Republicans who are both irrational and criminally incompetent. They’re all corrupt. Good people simply don’t run for office. Well, you realize that’s all YOUR fault, Mr. **Trihs**. Why haven’t YOU run for office yet? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/43 "2012-12-13T20:43:38Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > I think it’s more along the lines of a “When will you liberals stop voting for Democrats and vote for a third party instead” meme. This is just the break the Nader campaign has been waiting for! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/44 "2012-12-13T20:52:29Z")
As a staunch opponent of the current administration and its policies, I wish to state for the record that I intend to have pizza for dinner. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/45 "2012-12-13T21:11:45Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > As a staunch opponent of the current administration and its policies, I wish to state for the record that I intend to have pizza for dinner. > > Regards, > Shodan Oh yeah? Well, you know who else liked Italian food? _Mussolini_, that’s who! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/46 "2012-12-13T21:24:32Z")
It’s worse than you think - I am having Canadian bacon and pineapple. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/47 "2012-12-13T21:33:21Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Well, you realize that’s all YOUR fault, Mr. **Trihs**. Why haven’t YOU run for office yet? Hopelessly unqualified; he actually says what he believes and believes what he says. A virtue here, but a big drawback on the stump and soapbox circuit. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/48 "2012-12-13T21:38:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It’s worse than you think - I am having Canadian bacon and pineapple. > > Regards, > Shodan Dear GOD man! Have you no _shame_?! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/49 "2012-12-13T23:14:09Z")
Of course not - I’m a Republican. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/50 "2012-12-13T23:54:19Z")
Obama’s perfidy knows no bounds. Why he was here before the election, which he won, pinkie-swearing that he doesn’t do anything like any other politician. He promised he wouldn’t even breathe like them. But does he live up to that? NO. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/51 "2012-12-14T23:37:48Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > [In reversal, President Obama to accept corporate donations to help fund inauguration](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/07/obama-corporate-inaugural/1753959/) > > I hope you didn’t **actually** think that Obama was any different than any of the other corporate-backed millionaires that run our country. OK, please correct my ignorance wherever it shows.. The Inauguration. The “Party”, right? That’s what we’re talking about? Would you rather he used tax dollars? I must be missing something here. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/52 "2012-12-14T23:59:46Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, please correct my ignorance wherever it shows.. > The Inauguration. The “Party”, right? > That’s what we’re talking about? > Would you rather he used tax dollars? > > I must be missing something here. She would rather he hadn’t been elected. And this thread does… something. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/53 "2012-12-17T14:06:42Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > He promised he wouldn’t even breathe like them. But does he live up to that? NO. But that’s only because those obstructionist Republicans fillibustered to stop Obama from getting gills implanted. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/54 "2012-12-17T15:17:07Z")
Frankly, why spend all of this money for a sitting president? It isn’t as if we need to see more vulgar waste of money…and at a time when 16% of the people are out of work, its a slap in the facxe. But I’m told King Louis XVI had great parties at Versailles, too! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/55 "2012-12-17T17:06:09Z")
I really have to agree with the outrage. There’s going to be music and dancing to celebrate this President’s “Inauguration.” :dubious: What a slap in the face to the many fine Americans whose hard-earned wealth this President has openly admitted he intends to confiscate. The good news – if he keeps his word – is that the corporations that contribute will be made public. We’ll know who to boycott. I just want to see what musicians appear for this “event.” What do you want to bet it will be Aretha Franklin (or maybe Beyoncé, a mulatto like our “President”) rather than regular Americans. I want to thank OP for reminding us what American politics have come to. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/56 "2012-12-17T19:55:37Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I really have to agree with the outrage. There’s going to be music and dancing to celebrate this President’s “Inauguration.” I said last time, and repeat this time, that despite being an Obama supporter I wish he’d skip the ostentation at his inauguration. But why do you put that word in quotation marks? What other word do you think more appropriate? Why do you think it’s worth the dubious smiley? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841/57 "2012-12-17T20:08:35Z")
What I fail to understand is why he made a big deal out of not allowing it his first term. Having corporate backers for the inauguration is nothing like having having them for the campaign. The inauguration is not a partisan event. It doesn’t influence policy. It’s just pomp and circumstance. Are people actually worried that the President may have to bandy out favors to get sponsorship here? I think Obama is foregoing this because he’s learned it’s largely irrelevant. It may have had some symbolic value in the past, but it has not even that now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reversal-president-obama-to-accept-corporate-donations-to-help-fund-inauguration/643841.md?page=2)