Could Obama-ism be the opiate of of the masses?

Last week while the stock market went into a free fall, while AIG got a bailout and Lehman filed for bankruptcy, my father went to fundraiser in an historic Beverly Hills Mansion. He hung out with Barack Obama and 298 of their closest friends. People are losing their jobs, their retirements, their homes and their dreams; but not Obama supporters, they have faith that there will be change.

Tickets for the party?  $28,500 each. No, that wasn't a typo. The cost of shaking hands with the Democratic Party Nominee (and allegedly a current senator though I see no proof of that) for a party of two is a whopping $57,000. Can someone please explain to me how an ill timed elitist Hollywood fundraiser held during our nations darkest fiscal failures is revolutionary?

It's the cult of Obama. Nothing about it makes sense. People have changed their facebook and twitter pictures to Obama's face. I can't take it, until mid-November I've had to remove them as friends. It's not that I don't like these people. I adore them and love the diverse voices. The constant Obama issue gives me the heebie jeebies though, it's as though otherwise smart and rational people have ceased thinking and joined a massive cult.

I'm a little curious what Barack Obama is going to do with an additional $5.6 million dollars in the coffers of his campaign.

Will he pay the legal fees for the kid who hacked Palin's personal email?
Will he buy more advertising? Perhaps they'll run a campaign wherein people are reminded that he has an actual running mate with a pulse? The signs just say Obama right now.

I love that the Obama campaign calls for change, but has anyone noticed that Biden is deeply embedded in DC crony-ism? Do you know what you're getting? He's been in the Senate almost as long as I've been alive, does that sound like change to you? Does anyone care any longer?

I know what Obama will do with the money. He'll invest in a little more negative campaigning wherein he blasts McCain for having married an (insanely) wealthy woman. You see someone with a few homes is automatically not down to earth enough for the Democratic Party. In order to run for office, one must be perfectly average. Salt of the earth even.

Taking $57,000 for two adults to attend a dinner party is insanity. It's elitism at it's worst. I love Hollywood, we live in a house that TV built. Clearly I want our next president to be media friendly. Where's the dividing line though? Media friendly versus Media sycophant?

Which brings me to the point of all of this.

The advertising and the ridiculousness of Obama's face everywhere is, frankly, annoying. Not a little bit annoying either. We're Americans, we don't have Kings and Queens, we don't have presidents we Revere. We have presidents that we hold accountable through checks and balances. We have Presidents and Vice Presidents that we employ and reserve the right to fire.

So understand that when I stop following you on Twitter or Facebook it's not personal. It's just that this:

Reminds me of this:

And this:

And I get both scared and alarmed when America looks to one man to be it's savior. Because we haven't been a nation who makes idols of it's leaders. And we never should be.

Jessica Gottlieb is raising children and voting in Los Angeles; she writes about it at her blog

. This is an original post to the Los Angeles Moms Blog.