Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

The Obama Event Registry was launched in June. It’s apparently been a flop so far, but one of the biggest shark jumps in recent political campaign memory has at least helped expose a troubling benevolence deficit and trend of ungratefulness among America’s affianced couples and newlyweds:

President Obama’s bizarre marriage-theme fund-raising scheme — where he asks couples to request campaign donations from their guests in lieu of wedding gifts — has been a total flop.

The desperate initiative, dubbed “the Event Registry,” is being mocked by event planners and couples — and shows how desperate the Obama campaign is to keep up with GOP contender Mitt Romney’s fund-raising.

Campaign officials launched the initiative in late June, the same month Obama raised just $71 million compared to Romney’s $100 million.

So far, “the Event Registry” has been all but ignored on social-media sites — even though Facebook, Twitter and other networks have been a strong suit for the Obama campaign.

“The number of links and stories about the announcement is very low since the news went live on June 22,” said Meredith Klee, a spokeswoman for the social-media tracking firm Topsy.

Her site’s latest data show 1,137 posts on Twitter about the registry.

And only a few hundred links to the registry have been shared on Facebook — even though Obama has more than 27 million fans on the site, according to Topsy.
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But wedding industry pros called the ploy tasteless and divisive.

“This is absurd. Republican or Democrat, you shouldn’t bring politics into a wedding,” said Kristin Koch, a senior editor with weddingchannel.com. “We found that nearly everyone found this to be a bad idea.”

Let’s go, brides-to-be… dig deeper, be patriotic and be more appreciative of why you’re where you are by donating your wedding presents to help fund the last, best hope of… the Obama campaign.

I’m always struck by brides who think “well, I must be getting married because I’m in love.” Let me tell you, there are a lot of people in love out there! You may be in love with your fiancé, and that’s great, but never forget that you didn’t get there on your own. Somebody else invested in those roads and bridges you drove on when you went on your first date. Or maybe you met your future spouse on the Internet, which was created by government research. And if you’re having a big wedding reception — you didn’t put that together! Somebody else is making that happen! Send in the Cuisinart now!

Proposal: How about some kind of “Buffett Rule” for wedding presents? If the value of newlyweds’ KitchenAid mixers, gravy bowls, salad shooters, linens and wine glasses exceeds a certain dollar amount, they must give 30% of them to the Obama campaign. It’s only fair.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe