Michelle Obama’s austerity vacation…
[ADDENDUM: Even Obama apologist extraordinaire Ruth Marcus can’t seem to muster up much enthusiasm for the defense of this one, although she tries.]
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
[ADDENDUM: Even Obama apologist extraordinaire Ruth Marcus can’t seem to muster up much enthusiasm for the defense of this one, although she tries.]
The old spoils system seems to be alive and well in DC. The insensitivity of our political class has grown intolerable over time. The concept of public service by our elected officials needs some redirection in November.
Michelle has been out of her league since she got into Princeton on her brother’s coattails. She is the embodiment of conspicuous consumption.
She might be the embodiment of an arrogant, mean spirited, self-entitled, hostile bytch too.
When can we start pressing charges against these people?
They learned from the best. The Rev. Wright bought a $10 million mansion, all on the backs of his congregation. It’s what a lot of black minister do. Ever wonder how Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton got rich?
Quite honestly, the more that I see and read about this woman – the more I dislike her. She is a tacky, arrogant, resentful BAP. Oh, and as much as the fashion mags went on about her style and grace, a la Jackie Kennedy? Nope, sorry – no sale here. And no, she isn’t all that good-looking, either.
About the best she could have hoped for, given her actual physical attributes was being interesting, lively, charming, tasteful and fascinating – but no, she can’t seem to let go of a tontine of resentment, enough to make the effort.
And she has a staff of 21. Laura Bush had 1. Even Hillary Clinton only had 3.
She feels she has earned it. Don’t forget, this is the first time in her adult life that she was proud of this country (only after her husband was elected president).
They’ve booked half of the 120 rooms in the hotel ($400-$6000 a night). Her “friends” who are tagging along are supposedly paying their own way.
Because Michelle was “invited” to drop in and say hello to the King and Queen of Spain, her trip is considered “part business.” Then there is the cost of Air Force Two, the high tab to haul along the Secret Service, souvenirs for Sasha, etc.
Ka-ching, ka-ching.
This year alone I think they’ve also been to Hawaii, Broadway show outings in NYC (with grandma), shopping with the girls in LA, weekends in Chicago (including the recent Obama birthday dinner with Oprah, Valerie and the gang), romantic weekend in Ashville NC, family weekend in Arcadia forest in Maine (hey, it’s all about boosting the national parks!) one trip to Camp David (OK, that’s what it’s there for). Coming up: family weekend on the Gulf Coast (I’m sure they’ll pick a pristine spot where they won’t have to step in anything) and the annual 10 day family extravaganza on the Vineyard in late August where they can kick back with Skip Gates and talk about how racist everyone else is for criticizing them.
Tone deaf doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Hey, at least we’re not in a double dip recession or anything.
All of the above, especially: “Do as I say, not as I do”
Surely they will buy carbon credits from Al Gore…..
The Obamas really don’t get the “appearance of things” part, do they? George W. never removed his coat in the Oval Office, out of respect for the office. Gave up golf for the duration because he thought it looked bad when troops were putting their lives on the line. Laura Bush took a quiet vacation going hiking with a few friends in Olympic National Park.
I don’t think there has ever been a president so oblivious to the enormous honor of being allowed to be President, and the enormous responsibility that goes along with it. Dorothy Rabinowitz had a wonderful piece in the Wall St. Journal where she spoke of the American people expecting their president to be their champion.
CV said:
“This year alone I think they’ve also been to Hawaii, Broadway show outings in NYC (with grandma), shopping with the girls in LA, weekends in Chicago (including the recent Obama birthday dinner with Oprah, Valerie and the gang), romantic weekend in Ashville NC, family weekend in Arcadia forest in Maine (hey, it’s all about boosting the national parks!) one trip to Camp David (OK, that’s what it’s there for). Coming up: family weekend on the Gulf Coast (I’m sure they’ll pick a pristine spot where they won’t have to step in anything) and the annual 10 day family extravaganza on the Vineyard in late August where they can kick back with Skip Gates and talk about how racist everyone else is for criticizing them.”
George Bush’s idea of a vacation was to clear brush on his ranch.
Clinton wedding – 2 million. Jenna Bush wedding – 100K.
Obama signs letters of condolence going to the families of our fallen warriors. George Bush met with the families with hugs and tears.
Now this expensive trip to fashionable Spain.
These.people.have.no.class.
….or taste.
I cannot recall a First Family in my lifetime that has lived in such an over-the-top, ostentatious manner. And in an economy that is the worst since the Great Depression, and may get even worse yet.
No, I don’t believe it can be chalked up to obliviousness or tone-deafness. It is deliberate. They are acting like Third World kleptocrats. They are lording it over us, and rubbing our noses in it every day. They are saying to us, “We are the rulers. You are the ruled. And don’t you forget it.”
Utterly, utterly, un-American.
rickl says, “They are acting like Third World kleptocrats.”
BINGO!
rickl: I agree.
It’s one of the big differences between Obama and Jimmy Carter, by the way.
rickl: you have a winner with ‘Third World klepotcrats’. I strongly encourage you to develop your idea into an essay using Neo’s and/or Victor Davis Hanson’s work as your map and then offer it a site such as Pajamas. This is a view that needs to be articulated to as large an audience as possible. Goodness knows there’s plenty of empirical evidence to support your argument.
Nouveau Riche Michelle Obama est Tres Gauche en Espagne
I cannot wait until Pres. Obama gives the next ‘we all must sacrifice’ speech.
I can’t help but wonder — are the Obamas acting on the principle of “get as much as we can while we still can”? Because it sure does seem like it sometimes.
That, to me, speaks either of incredible immaturity (given where they are and what we hired them to do), or unscrupulousness… or a perception that they won’t last long where they are.
(Which is ridiculous, of course. Unless President Obama is brought up on criminal charges and sent to prison — something I’m willing to promise will NEVER happen — he will be able to live the High Life for the rest of his days. Quite apart from his rock-star status, he has his generous Presidential pension… and the speaking fees he can draw, as Nobel Laureate and such, ensure that he need never lose his taste for Waygu beef.)
Help me out here, please. Do we have any examples on record of the Obamas turning down a chance to be extravagant? No doubt they exist, but I’m having trouble thinking of any… starting, as TEC points out above, with President Obama telling us all to cut back, and then keeping the Oval Office thermostats above 80 so that he can stay in shirtsleeves.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
Back when OJ was aquitted, a black friend of mine (I’m white) who goes back 40+ years said simply ‘sure he’s guilty, but this is payback time’.
Could there not be a little of this mentality going on in the White House? The idea that blacks built this country and never got any of the rewards, and now . . .
From her various unlovely facial expressions (in Marbella the all teeth look of a predatory fish http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/04/2010-08-04_material_girl_michelle_obama_is_a_modernday_marie_antoinette_on_a_glitzy_spanish.html) and from her words, Michelle is a real nasty piece of work, no matter how many flattering and obsequious puff pieces the MSM runs about her “class” and supposed “beauty,” about the great muscle tone of her arms, about her phony White House vegetable garden, or about her busybody crusade to slim down America’s children; and, all the while, she and Obama are figuratively stealing all the candy in the store, and greedily and gluttonously stuffing all that candy–that we “little people” are forced to pay for, that means less food on our tables, that comes out of our pockets and our paychecks and our taxes–into their faces as fast as they can. As the story linked above says, Michelle is our very own Marie Antoinette (and Obama–our vacationer and golfer, relaxer, and fundraiser in chief–our new incarnation of Louis XVI).
Although not, apparently, the main event, from the occasional newspaper and internet reports that offer glimpses of her actual background, Michelle herself has her own closet full of skeletons; her Princeton thesis about all the racist white students and white society that wouldn’t accept her, her role in getting Obama the job as the Director of the Annenberg Challenge of Chicago, her mysteriously inflated salary at the Chicago hospital where she devised a way to offload unprofitable poor and mostly black patients onto other hospitals, all the while telling them how she was helping them–a supposedly key job that just disappeared when she left, her rants about how Obama was going to force us to become “involved” and “engaged”–no doubt on his terms and for the reasons he wants, and no others–about how she had never been proud of America until Obama was elected, and the reports that claim that her law license was revoked somehow–we don’t know how–some years back.. Oh yes, “them bones, them bones gonna jump around.”
I’m less concerned about this.
This is a reflection on Obama maybe.
But identity politics gets ridiculous.
She maintains a high approval rating (Michelle does) but she seems intent on throwing that away also.
Mel, I remember talking to a roomate who was black while I was in the Navy in 1991 during the Clarence Thomas hearings.
He just called Clarence and Uncle Tom and was done with Clarence.
Horrible.
It’s all about politics/policies/issues not the identity
so? Putin’s wife collects Bregeut watches.
i dated a social register deb once, so i learned about all kinds of products and things made and done and places, that most people have no idea of.
Rolex? pah! Bregeut, is better… (as are some others)
Making watches for the aristocracy since 1775…
“George W. never removed his coat in the Oval Office, out of respect for the office”
But that didn’t stop Bush from lying about WMDs, did it? Talk about form over substance. Both parties are corrupt.
Lily Says:
August 6th, 2010 at 9:46 am
I cannot wait until Pres. Obama gives the next ‘we all must sacrifice’ speech.
Mutant Turtle
There was definitive proof that Iraq under Saddam had WMDs- its use of poison gas against the Kurds in northern Iraq. There was no definitive proof that Saddam had destroyed his WMDs. Here us Dr. Hans Blix, Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector talking about anthrax on January 27,2003:
Is Hans Blix lying?
There are many other prominent figures at the link discussing Saddam and WMD. Yes, WMD were Dubya’s inventions, chimeras spun out of pure air. We were supposed to take Saddam at his word that he had destroyed his WMDs? Tell me another one, while you’re at it.
How stupid do you think we are?
Gringo,
Read:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/aug/19/cia-and-wmds-damning-evidence/
Mutant Turtle: nothing in that article contradicts anything Hans Blix said about anthrax. No definitive proof.
Since in your opinion there was definitive proof that Saddam had completely abandoned all WMDs and infrastructure for developing same – which would make Dubya a liar- would you also have supported a lifting of sanctions?
Regarding the back and forth of he said she said of intelligence officers et al, recall the NIE estimate several years ago on Iran’s nuclear intentions. Yeah, right. Damning evidence, my foot.
Gringo,
Of course I would have supported the lifting of sanctions.
The sanctions were killing 50,000 children a year.
So where is the proof that 50,000 Iraqi children died each year as a direct result of international sanctions?
I wonder if the source for this claim might be the same Johns Hopkins academics who authored very high Iraqi civilian casualty estimates that appeared in what had been the respected medical journal “Lancet,” and who estimated that something like 600,000 Iraqis died that otherwise would not have died had we not invaded Iraq and conducted combat operations there? For, if so, there has been recent, albeit belated, fairly harsh criticism of their methods and estimates (http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/lancet_study_on_iraqi_war_deat.html).
Wolla Dalbo : I am glad that Mutant Turtle said what he said. The cards are on the table:
1) Bush lied, oh yeah.
2) Sanctions should have been lifted, because Saddam had destroyed all WMDs and infrastructure (including plans and techniclans) making WMDs. Because Mutant Turtle did hot express disagreement with this, I assume he agrees with it.
3) 50,000 Iraqi children died annually because of sanctions: they should have been lifted.
I have already dealt with the first.
The second: not exactly a statement of the reality-based community, because while Saddam had destroyed nearly all his WMDs, while hiding evidence of having done so, and most likely shipped a lot off to Syria for safekeeping, the infrastructure for creating them was still in place.
The third : this is based on comparing Iraq through time and with similar countries. The evidence DOES to point to reduced progress in Iraq in reducing child mortality. Here are figures for 1980-1990, and 1990-2000, for similar countries. Here are the figures for reduction in child mortality, ages 1-5. Data from the World Bank
The argument is that to the degree that Iraq did not continue the same progress in infant mortality for 1990-2000 that it did for 1980-1990, relative to other countries, the difference in predicted and actual child mortality is due to sanctions. I did the numbers for 2000, using 1997 census data, and got about 40,000 for “excess” under 5 child deaths. Roughly close to the 50,000 figure. The number is more reliable than the Lancet study, which as you point out, is hogwash.
The problem with this POV is that it is succumbing to blackmail. While Saddam was shorting public health programs, he was building palaces and doing what he could to build up his power. It is saying that in order to continue public health progress, we should let a brutal dictator do what he wants. This argument also ignores the many Iraquis that Saddam directly killed.
The public health problem in Iraq wasn’t sanctions. It was Saddam.
3.2 million under 5: 1997 census
Child Mortality, under 5 (/1,000)
Country 1980-1990
Iran 42
Iraq 34
Jordan 38
Syria 50
Saudi Arabia 52
Country 1990-2000
Iran 35
Iraq 10
Jordan 28
Syria 40
Saudi Arabia 47
The above figures for Child Mortality are percentage reductions. Here are the actual figures.
Country Name YR1980
Iraq 80.5
Iran, Islamic Rep. 126.5
Jordan 61
Syrian Arab Republic 74
Saudi Arabia 89.76
Country Name YR1990
Iraq 53.1
Iran, Islamic Rep. 72.8
Jordan 37.7
Syrian Arab Republic 36.8
Saudi Arabia 43.14
Country Name YR2000
Iraq 47.6
Iran, Islamic Rep. 47.5
Jordan 27.3
Syrian Arab Republic 22.2
Saudi Arabia 23.06
Gringo,
Thanks for engaging in discussion/debate and keeping it civilized. I appreciate it.
With regard to the role of sanctions in the death of Iraqi children, I invite you to read the following recent article (July 22, 2010):
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n14/andrew-cockburn/worth-it
Mutant.
You are new here??? Andrew Cockburn???
However, if we’d lifted the sanctions, SH would have built his WMD faster and in more quantity.
BTW, as everybody knows, including you, Bush did not lie abouit WMD. That you claim he did is a lie, a lie you know to be a lie.
Got to give guys like you credit for perseverance. Keep at it and maybe you’ll convince one of the unwary, someplace, sometime.