Snubbed by biz titans on Apple fund-raising visit

By CARL CAMPANILE, JENNIFER FERMINO and DAN MANGAN

Last Updated: 8:34 AM, June 24, 2011

Posted: 3:06 AM, June 24, 2011

President Obama hit the Big Apple last night hoping to score a fund-raising hat trick for his re-election campaign -- but he faced lackluster donors tired of being taken for granted and some pointed no-shows by prominent Wall Streeters.

"The Democratic business-donor community is demoralized," a Democratic fund-raiser told The Post before the three cash-currying events Obama was attending in Manhattan over a three-hour span. "There's not the level of enthusiasm or excitement. They don't believe he's interested in what they have to say."

Among those feeling burned by Obama are financial execs sick of being demonized by the White House and made a scapegoat for the nation's economic woes.

AFP/Getty Images

TOUGH HOUSE: President Obama takes heat last night at a Sheraton LGBT fund-raiser, where he heard some heckling.

Although Obama raked in lots of cash last night from a dinner at the Upper East Side restaurant Daniel -- where about 70 hedge-funders and other deep pocketed donors forked over $35,800 a head -- it was big-time execs turning down the invitation who raised eyebrows.

Both JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon and Citigroup boss Vikram Pandit had made it clear they would not attend the event, which was closed to the press.

Also planning to skip the event were Blackstone Group President Tony James and its top real-estate exec, Jonathan Gray; Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and its president, Greg Fleming; and Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn.

"I think there are a lot of Wall Street-types who are unhappy," said a financial exec who has supported Obama in the past.

Obama -- last night addressing the bankers he once derided as "fat cats" -- joked about his dwindling popularity among them.

"I know that it's not going to be exactly the same as when I was young and vibrant and new," he said. "Let's face it, it was cool to support me back then [in 2008] . . . Now I'm sort of old news."

Even Obama's first stop, at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, where as many as 600 gays, bisexuals and transgendered people paid at least $1,250 apiece, showcased the gap between the president and his base.

Obama stopped short of calling for same-sex nups -- disappointing some of his supporters.

At one point, some hecklers shouted "Marriage!"

To which Obama responded, "I hear you, guys. Believe it or not, I anticipated that."

He took pains to say he was raised to abhor discrimination.

"I was born that way," he said, an apparent riff on Lady Gaga's gay anthem "Born This Way."

The fund-raiser couldn't have come at a more critical time in the battle to make New York the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.

"New York is doing exactly what democracies are supposed to do. There's a debate," said Obama, who praised Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature for taking on the issue.

Appropriately, Obama closed the curtain on his New York visit on the Great White Way, speaking at a special performance of the Broadway show "Sister Act."

The Democratic National Committee rented the theater -- to the dismay of show-goers who had purchased tickets for last night's performance and were not told in advance they'd have to exchange them for another date.

Even famous New Yorkers were inconvenienced by Obama's visit. Martin Scorsese couldn't get to his Upper East Side home because the Secret Service had closed off his block. The Oscar-winning director laughed it off and said he still thinks Obama's a good fella.

Additional reporting by Mark DeCambre, Amber Sutherland and Andy Campbell in NY and Geoff Earle in DC

carl.campanile@nypost.com