With Friends Like This…

Things haven’t been going so well for Barack Obama lately. The Illinois Senator was once the golden boy of the Democratic nomination race, getting softball questions and making ladies swoon. Fast forward a few months and he’s been called an elitist by Mitt Romney (!), had to disavow his minister, and is under fire for the gas tax holiday thing.

In trying times, people tend to rely on their friends for support. But Obama BFF Gov. Deval Patrick is only making life harder for his beleaguered friend. The Associated Press checked up on a claim the Governor made about donating to Obama’s senatorial campaign in 1995 and can’t find any proof Patrick made the donation.

Patrick related the hilarious anecdote in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People issue.

“When at last he decided to run for the Illinois Senate, he called to ask for my help and I was eager to give it,” Patrick wrote. “`I’ll contribute at the max,’ I pledged. `Deval,’ he said, `in Illinois there is no max.’ I said, `Brother, I’m sorry, there has to be a max.”‘

Aww. Look at him pretending not to be an elitist.

You’d think if you were going to put the claim in print, you’d want to be able to back it up. But neither the media nor the Governor can come up with any proof he made the $5,000 donation.

An Associated Press check of records on file in Springfield, Ill. . . . didn’t find a donation[.]

Patrick spokesman Steve Crawford said: “The governor remembers making a donation to Barack Obama’s first political campaign. He does not have the canceled check from 15 years ago to document it. Who would?”

Someone with lofty political goals donating to a friend who also has his sights set high, perhaps?