Former President Barack Obama is inviting a “nightmare” by targeting a close to 700 footfall for his 60th birthday party at Martha’s Vineyard. This news came gushing through the doors as criticism grew grave for the lavish party amid the national surge of COVID delta variant and new restrictions. Among the 475 guests, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey are some of the expected guests who might stop by to wish Obama on his birthday. Reports claim that these 475 guests will be attended by 200 hired hands.
“Democrats are imposing unscientific mask mandates while contemplating more lockdowns. Meanwhile, President Obama is hosting over 500 elites at his Marthas Vineyard mansion. If you or I did that it would be called a super-spreader event by the Democrats,” said Rep. Elsie Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference.
“Typical liberal ‘do as I say, not as I do’. This is what socialism looks like.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis commented on the double standards of Democrats like Obama, “just like President Obama, every American should have the right to celebrate their milestones without arbitrary government mandates and interference. We all know if this was President Trump the left would be screaming.”
Rep. Andy Biggs grew sentimental and tweeted, “Just imagine if this party was for Trump.”
The White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki however defended Obama when asked if Obama was “setting the wrong example about how serious COVID-19 is by hosting a big birthday party with hundreds of people.” Psaki said, “I would note first that former President Obama has been a huge advocate of individuals getting vaccinated,” Psaki told reporters at her daily press briefing. “This event, according to all the public reporting, is outdoors and in a moderate zone. But in addition, there is testing requirements and other steps they are taking. which I’m sure they can outline for you in more detail.”
The reported didn't stop there, they asked, “you’ve had people saying, over the last couple of days, vaccinated people can still spread this Delta variant around, so is there concern that this — that an Obama birthday party — might become a super spreader event?”
Replying to this, Psaki said, “The [new CDC] guidance is about what steps people can take when they’re in public settings — indoor settings, specifically, was the new guidance."
The reporter then passed, “So people who are watching this at home and they see, well, President Obama can have a party with several hundred people — should they think that it is OK for them to have a party with several hundred people?”
“Well, we certainly advise everyone to follow public health guidelines, which I know the former president, who is a huge advocate of getting vaccinated, of following the guidance of public health experts, would certainly advocate for himself as well., answered Psaki.
Earlier last week, the CDC urged local people to readopt the mask mandate if they belong to areas with "moderate" or "high" rate of COVID-19 transmission. However, no formal announcement has come out regarding mass outdoor gatherings or restricted domestic travel but President Biden assured that more restrictions are on their way.
The image here shows Obama family's $12 million, 30-acre waterfront property on Martha's Vineyard.
A staffer involved in Obama's birthday bash called it a "nightmare" and furthered his statement as, "his bash is a nightmare to pull off this time of year on the tiny island — especially due to the lack of labor because of the coronavirus. What is he thinking?
Another source claimed that the Former Prez hired a doctor to be the "COVID coordinator" for the party and every attendee will have to submit a negative report of their COVID test results within a certain window.
The party is largely expected to be an outdoor event. But, recently Massachusetts issued a mask advisory for Martha's Vineyard owing to the increasing number of Delta variant cases.
It’s not clear how guests will use bathrooms and whether masks will be required indoors when they do. Last week, Martha’s Vineyard health officials urged people to wear masks when indoors as the local infection rate was categorized as “substantial,” meaning more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over one week.
Now this is something serious because Obama's party doesn't follow the general guidelines issued by the Biden government.
The CDC doesn't urge local officials to wear masks in an indoor setting as the county that includes Martha's Vineyard slumped into the "moderate" infection category.
But, it seems that Obama's high profile friend, Biden will not attend his party as a White House official told, “While President Biden is unable to attend this weekend, he looks forward to catching up with former President Obama soon and properly welcoming him into the over 60 club."
Axios revealed that the mass arrival of Former Prez's guests is the hot news in the town among Uber drivers, hotel maids and check-in clerks.
Martha’s Vineyard is close to Provincetown, Mass., where a spread among vaccinated people over July 4th helped underpin the controversial new CDC mask guidelines. Big parties such as Obama’s do not follow the general guidelines pushed by the Biden administration. Francis Collins said that people must use their "common sense" before organizing such huge parties.
“If you’re talking about a small party like I might have at my house for six or eight people who are all fully vaccinated, I do not believe, at this point, we need to put masks on to be next to each other. But if there were 100 people, and, of course, how are you really going to be sure about people’s vaccination status? Then the dynamic changes a little bit. There will be some need for common sense there,” said Collins.
Obama surely has a record of throwing huge birthday parties. In 2011, when he turned 50, he had Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, Tom Hanks and Chris Rock in the White House as guests.