According to CNN, President Barack Obama celebrates his 50th birthday today by taking a trip back to his hometown of Chicago (well, Chicago is one of his many hometowns!) and take in some eve-of-birthday entertainment as well as some fundraising for his re-election campaign.
The entertainment on tap for the celebration includes OK Go, Jennifer Hudson, and Herbie Hancock.
Before the music event, Obama will go to a 100-person dinner. People attending the dinner spent as much as $35,800 for a ticket; $5,000 will be donated to the Obama campaign, and the rest will be donated to the DNC.
Obama will also hold video teleconferences with 1,100 birthday house parties across the nation. The conferences are set to last 10-15 minutes each. Also, campaign officials and top Democrats will hold seven “surrogate fundraisers” throughout the U.S., according to Katie Hogan, deputy press secretary for Obama’s re-election campaign.
Since the birthday festivities still coincide with politics, Republicans have used the festivities to point out to their supporters how the president is playing politics despite of the bad economic climate of the country. According to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, the president hasn’t shown any leadership “unless of course its taking the initiative to raise campaign cash.”
You can read the full story at CNN.
