Obama, Preaching to the Choir, Is Met by a Rude Chorus

By JACKIE CALMES
NYT

3:00 p.m. | Updated It was hardly a surprise that President Obama got an earful in San Francisco about frustration in his party’s left over the pace of his promised change. But it was a bit unexpected when the protest came at a high-dollar fund-raising breakfast Thursday morning.

Soon after Mr. Obama began speaking to about 150 people who had contributed up to $35,800 each, a woman at a rear table stood and announced that her group wanted to sing him a song it had written. And they did, despite Mr. Obama’s request that they wait until after his remarks.

The full lyrics were written on a menu for the event. The chorus: “We paid our dues, where’s our change?”

The singers held up 8-inch-by-11-inch papers printed with “Free Bradley Manning,” the Army private who has been held in near-solitary confinement in a military brig on suspicion of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. The lead songster doffed her white jacket to reveal a T-shirt with a picture of Mr. Manning and the same message, and a man next to her did the same.

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