Obama wants his celebrity friends to help him raise $1 billion for his presidential library

[caption id=”attachment_145215″ align=”aligncenter” width=”2639″] (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

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It seems President Obama wants to mirror his presidential library after the national debt and make it the most expensive in history.

According to the New York Times, Obama is looking to raise $1 billion — double what former president George W. Bush raised for his library and the start of the Bush Foundation — for his “digital-first” presidential library.

From the Times report:

“Supporters have urged Mr. Obama to avoid the mistake made by Bill Clinton, whose associates raised just enough money to build his library in Little Rock, Ark., forcing Mr. Clinton to pursue high-dollar donors for years to come. Including construction costs, Mr. Obama’s associates set a goal of raising at least $800 million — enough money, they say, to avoid never-ending fund-raising. One top adviser said that $800 million was a floor rather than a ceiling.”

So far, Obama has raised just over $5.4 million from 12 donors. He plans to do the majority of his fundraising after he leaves the White House.

And don’t worry. He’ll get by with a little help from his celebrity friends.

Vanity Fair reported that actress Eva Longoria, New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, author Toni Morrison, venture capitalist John Doerr, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla have all agreed to help Obama reach his goal.

Obama wants his celebrity friends to help him raise $1 billion for his presidential library

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