Geffen on Obama: 'He'll be an inspiring president'

David Geffen is no dummy. When I called him today, he knew exactly what I wanted to talk about: "Maureen's column, right?" he said before I could finish a sentence. I guess you don't get to be a fabulously successful media mogul without having a sixth sense of what on someone's mind, whether they're a famous filmmaker or a tongue-tied reporter.

When historians start looking for turning points in the trajectory of the Obama campaign for the presidency, they will inevitably turn to Feb. 21, 2007, the day that the New York Times' Maureen Dowd ran a column where Geffen blasted then-Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. He didn't just say he disliked Hillary, he dismissed her as "the easiest [candidate] to beat." He called Hillary overproduced and overscripted. "It's not a very big thing to say, 'I made a mistake' on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't."

Geffen added that after eight years of George W. Bush as president, "I don't think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is--and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton--can bring the country together." Geffen's indictment of Clinton caused a firestorm. It's easy to forget that back in the winter of 2007, Hillary wasn't just the front runner--she was considered inevitable. The entire Clinton campaign was based on a sense of her invincibility. Clinton operatives were telling deep-pocket party supporters--you better sign on now. The train is leaving the station and you don't want it leaving without you.

Geffen broke the spell. Having soured on the Clintons after raising huge sums of money for Bill and sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom--twice--Geffen found himself enamored of Obama from the first time he saw him on TV, giving a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "I thought he was a remarkable guy," Geffen told me today. "After I heard him give that speech, I called him up and said, 'You're going to run for president and I'm going to support you.' " Geffen says Obama laughed and said he was very flattered, but that he wasn't running.

Cut to two years later. "He called me one day and said with a laugh, ' David, I guess you're right. I am running for president and I'd like your support.' And of course, I said, 'You have it.' "

What is the private Obama like? And how did Dowd get Geffen to finally go public with his complaints about Hillary? Keep reading:

Geffen had actually voiced his concerns about Hillary long before the February 2007 fundraiser that  he hosted with fellow DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Some time before, Geffen was a speaker at the 92nd Street Y in New York. When someone asked about his take on the Democratic presidential aspirants, the billionaire mogul didn't mince words. "I said that Hillary was an incredibly polarizing figure and that if she ran, she'd never be elected president," he recalls. "And when I said it, the audience broke into applause. Maureen was in the audience and afterwards she said to me, 'We oughta do a column about that.' "

Geffen says he wasn't ready. "I said, 'No, no, no. No one's interested in what I have to say about the Clintons.' But she kept after me and finally, when Steven, Jeffrey and I had the fundraiser, Maureen cornered me and said, 'You have to say what you're thinking. It could have a real impact on the race.' So I did." Geffen sighs. "What can I tell you--I was just speaking the truth."

His remarks caused a media uproar. The comments were front-page news in Washington, D.C. The Clinton campaign instantly demanded that Obama disavow the remarks, saying that after Obama had promised to avoid any slash-and-burn politics, he'd "embraced the politics of trash." They also demanded that Obama return Geffen's $2,300 personal donation to his campaign. At a Democratic presidential forum in Carson City, Nev., the Geffen quotes were hotly debated, with Gov. Bill Richardson calling on Obama to denounce Geffen's comments and Clinton defending her husband's record as president.

According to one political operative I spoke to today, the Geffen broadside had an instant impact because he'd been the first to voice fears shared by many liberal Democrats about the prospect of a Hillary coronation. Geffen agrees. "It resonated because it was what everyone was thinking, but no one wanted to say, because they feared the wrath of the Clintons. That's also true of the press. They didn't want to take on the Clintons, because they knew they'd lose all their access. But this put everything out in the open."

Geffen sounded bittersweet about last night's results. He was pleased to see Obama win such a convincing victory, but saddened to see that California voters had approved Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage in the state. I found myself eager to ask Geffen, who's spent considerable time in private with Obama, if the public candidate is different from the private person. "Not at all," Geffen says. "He's really quite consistent. It's why the Republicans were never able to bring him down. He's a calm but commanding presence, thoughtful, measured and always consistent. He'll be an inspiring president."

Over the years, whether as a manager, a record mogul or driving force behind DreamWorks, Geffen has had the ability to approach various projects with a blend of passion and pragmatism. I asked if he sees Obama as a pragmatist as well. "Of course," Geffen responded. "You have to be pragmatic to be an African American running for president in America."

Photo of David Geffen by Paul Hawthorne / Associated Press

Comments

[Rumple Stiltskin]

B.H.O. is a charismatic con-man, a charlatan, the candidate who promised "Yes We Can". However, his ANTICHRIST platform is strictly, "NO WE Can't". No, we can't drill for oil in America. No We Can’t have Nuclear Power. No We Can’t have coal power. No We Can't win in Iraq and Afganistan. No We Can't have guns in America. No We Can't have Conservative talk Radio. No We Can't have freedom of speech. No We Can't have a strong military. No We Can't have our thermostats set at 72 degrees in America. No We Can’t Have Foreign oil independence. No We Can’t have more refineries. No We Can't have reasonably priced gasoline. No We Can't have lower taxes. No We Can't have The Ten Commandments displayed
in America. No We Can’t have Christmas Nativity Scenes. No We Can't have Pro-Life in America. No We Can't have Equal Opportunity. No We Can't have dissenting opinion. No We Can't have rich people in America. No We Can't have life without a G-I-G-A-N-T-U-M-U-N-G-O-U-S Federal Government. No We Can't have life without The 'Nanny State' to take care of us. No We Can't have any more personal freedoms in America. No We Can't have private property. No We Can't have a life free of the Federal Government creating laws to mandate our behavior for our own good. No We Can't have life without 'Big Brother' to protect us. No We Can't have safe and secure borders. No We Can't have our Old Constitution back. No We Can't have a population free of Illegal Aliens. No We Can't have Illegal Aliens without drivers licenses. No We Can't have freedom without Amnesty for ANY Minority who wishes to illegally hop onto the ‘Gravy Train’. No We Can't have Private schools that teach Creationism. No We Can't have neighborhoods free of ‘Community
Organizers’ (read PRIVATE HITLER BROWN-SHIRT ARMY SPIES) like every other dictator in history. No We Can't have the Pledge of Allegiance recited in our schools. No We Can't have 'Under God’, or ‘In God we Trust’ on our money. No We Can't have ‘Patriotism’ without, “Spreading The Wealth Around”. No We Can't have prosperity without first creating another deep and lasting Great Depression. No We Can't have Capitalism creating new jobs. No We Can't have a Conservative and Christian Supreme Court. No We Can't have laws of the people, by the people, for the people.

Put lipstick on an IMMORAL LOSER, with NO VALID Birth Certificate, MAKE him a FRAUDULENT U.S. Citizen, Put him through Harvard Law school, make him a Senator by Attrition, backed by the MOB, Teach him to smile and lie through his teeth, groom him for the Presidency, lie about his record of service and accomplishment, back him with UNLIMITED POWER and cash, SCREAM RACISM, BIGOTRY and MSM BIAS, Stuff the election ballot boxes with illegal votes, Buy the votes to win him the election, Violate Federal Law and accept Illegal donations from anyone in the world who sends it, and at the end of the day you've still got a BIG, BIG LOSER, only now he is the Illegal, Immoral, Inexperienced, installed Puppet President-Elect of our Beloved Country. He never was in charge; he is not now in charge; he never will be in charge, because he was installed by SATAN HIMSELF, and by men of great immorality and power who now have an active enabling representative in the White House to do their bidding and to deliver the American People unto them.
Barack Hussein Obama is the ANTICHRIST and now he walks unfettered among us. First he will control your heart, then your behavior, then your actions, then your mind, then your thoughts, then your body, then your life, then your soul. Beware of the ‘mark of the beast’, for it is upon us. And this isn’t halloween. THIS IS FOR REAL.
Mothers gather your children, and men gird up your loins.
Hitler was as NOTHING compared to the SATAN whom we have invited into our homes. Now we will all reap the whirlwind that will all too soon be upon us.
Obama is an extraordinary rhetorician, and as Aristotle pointed out, rhetoric is one of the foundations of political power. Rhetoric has raised him to the presidency, along with the tremendous unpopularity of his predecessor and a financial crisis that took a tied campaign and gave Obama a lead he carefully nurtured to victory. Yes, we will have ‘change’. From here on out it will be ‘from the frying pan into the fire’!
Be V-E-R-Y A-F-R-A-I-D because it’s gonna get MUCH worse before Christ comes and makes it all better.
The United States of America, as we know it, will soon cease to exist.
It’s all in your Bible, those of us who still have one: In the book of Revelations. Read it and weep as Our True Messiah and Savior, Jesus the Christ weeps for us. It is all in His plan to humble us, to break us, and hopefully to drive us back to Him through repentance and faith. God forgive and save us all.

[SK]

Obama's resume is too thin, and his star rose too fast.
There are powerful, shadowy figures behind him who have cleared the way.

I hope, for the sake of my son (and my parents--who are recently retired), that an Obama presidency turns out better than the naysayers project. But since there are precious few in the media who even bothered to investigate this man's past, I am cautious.

[Bus Driver]

Gay, shmay. By 2009, Emanuel, Geffen and Our Inspiring Leader will be building re-education camps.

[Dale]

More proof Dowd is an idiot. Nobody gives a rats behind what Geffen thinks about anything political. He is a non-entity.

[bob graham]

Boy am I glad someone archived the events leading to Obama's election. After all of the talk about his not being a citizen, and no one having any knowledge of him, I was becoming convinced he came via a flying saucer just in time for the elections.

What a revelation to find out that some thought by thnking Americans was indeed involved around someone who was in fact here for his entire life.

[J.C. Gor]

As usual Mr Geffen saw the future and it was bright and optimistic. Guys like Geffen, who are honest, smart and say what they think are some much more refreshing then the Dem. talking heads we are forced to ingest on a daily basis by the phoney news media. Obama hopefully will surround himself with honest hard working men/women who speak truth to power. Hangers on and sycophants are a cancer that has rotted Washington to the core. Self interested individuals and the lobbying by special interests can destroy Pres. Obama before he gets started. Hope he listens more then he talks.

[Moe Greene]

Who really cares what someone who has been isolated from reality as long as David Geffen has thinks? What would have been interesting is if he had called his good buddy Obama and told him to get blacks in California on-board with Prop 8. But I suspect that didn't happen.

[Charles Adams]

Really Obama never said anything of substance on which he could be "taken down" and McCain never even came close to nailing him to the wall on anything until far too late in the campaign so it's no big surprise that Obama won.

If the Republicans had picked a better candidate it would have been a better race.

Enjoy your short victory

[steve]

THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH THE BELIEF OF MANY SERIOUS THINKERS---THOSE WHO HAVE LEARNED TO THINK---THAT BARRY IS ALL FLUFF, A PROMOTION OF HOLLYWOOD, WHICH WILL BE REVEALED MANY TIMES OVER IN THE NEXT 4 YEARS. GOOD LUCK TO AMERICA

[whitney]

Besides, I surely couldn't take 4 more years of "My friends".....McCain was such a weak candidate...the only bright spot on the R side, was the woman, Palin...and the old fart is dissing her, now that he's lost.