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Michelle Obama's Spain Trip --
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Anonymous
| First ladies are expected to work hard for no salary so I don't personally begrudge them an annual vacation. |
Anonymous
| PP here, I will add that I just read Newsweek and according to them the Obamas paid for the trip. They did not travel with 40 people, they went with two friends who each brought two daughters-that totals 6 people. It's a 4 day trip. For me, non-issue. |
Anonymous
No. We do pay for security wherever they go, but First Ladies go everywhere, so this is really immaterial. The Obamas paid for the trip cost. |
Anonymous
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It's not immaterial. It's the reason she's getting so much pushback. My sense is that this trip cost the U.S. taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars after the Obamas covered their hotel room etc.
From CBS News' website: CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports the C-32A (757) the First Lady used to fly to Spain - one of the planes that usually serves as Air Force Two, and sometimes Air Force One - operates at a Department of Defense reimbursement rate of $11,351 per hour. So a 6.5 hour flight to Spain would run $73,781.50 - double for the round trip. |
Anonymous
|
Well, she pretty much has to fly on Air Force planes, doesn't she?
I have a hard time begrudging the spouse of the president a vacation, even if it does mean she has to fly at our expense. Her husband gets a lot of death threats with the job. Probably her whole family. I'm really not sure the information in the article posted by the OP is accurate. Over $400K for a vacation -- at takxpayer expense -- is way over the top, of course -- but I don't think that number is accurate. |
Anonymous
Michelle O is not Jackie O. |
Anonymous
Threats go with the territory. Thant is why the first family has secret service agents guarding them. In slow economic times. when people are still losing jobs, it looks frivilous for the first lady to take a junket to Spain, but this is a first Lady who seems to think she can do no wrong. Putting your arm around the Queen of England. Where were the protocol experts at the State Dept? wearing $500.00 athletic shoes to feed the homeless. |
Anonymous
The Obamas paid for a US air Force plane for Michelle and one of her children to go to Spain, as well as all the other people, necessary to accompany her? That would in the hundreds of thousands dollars and I don't believe this is the case. If so, let's see your proof. |
Anonymous
| Black woman here who voted for Obama and have vacationed in Spain myself. It's not the end of the world but inviting 40 friends does seem a bit over the top. It is more about personality than politics, though. The Lanvin sneakers don't bother me because she did not necessarily pay 500 dollars for them. I have seen them for a lot less at sales. |
Anonymous
| Michelle Obama has Secret Service agents surrounding her at all times, whether or not she goes on vacation. It's possible there might be extra agents for a trip such as this one, but I'd guess there'd be extra agents for a trip to Florida as well. The cost of these agents on this trip is a non-issue. |
Anonymous
Well, yeah, threats go with the territory -- which is why she has to fly Air Force jets and not regular planes -- so why begrudge her for flying them. "Taking 40 friends" would be extravagent but I'm really not convinced that is what indeed happened. |
Anonymous
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Again, even if it was a bit lavish, people are getting up in arms over what amounts to not even a drop in the bucket. A few hundred grand? Really? How about the billions upon billions we spend on two fruitless wars? Or the bailouts? Or everything else that costs thousands of times more and is even more egregious?
Nah, let's hassle the black woman for not knowing her place. |
Anonymous
And why is that? What did Jackie O ever accomplish with her life besides being arm candy? Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton with a degree in Sociology and got her law degree at Harvard. Jackie O went to three colleges and ended up with a degree in French Literature from GW. Michelle's work history includes a private law firm, various governmental positions, Associate Dean of Student Services at U of Chicago, and various administrative positions in the U of Chicago hospital system. Jackie O's only work history I can find is limited to taking street photos for a periodical. I know Jackie is renowned for her grace and humility, but how many other woman share those characteristics? Michelle is known for her passion, her intellect, her conviction...far more impressive qualities, if you ask me. I realize that times are very different now than they were then, and Jackie O's experiences were limited by the context she grew up in. But the blind insistence that Michelle can't compare to Jackie is simply grounded in romance rather than reason. |
Anonymous
| If I can't criticize the Obamas because they are Black, that's another kind of racism. I posted the CBS numbers above. (I also started a thread on this subject on the Off Topic forum a few days ago.)We don't know how much the trip cost U.S. taxpayers. As for the drop in a bucket argument, this is discretionary spending over which the president and his wife have absolute control, unlike the war, bailout, etc. This is not just about the dollar amount, it's about the symbolism of this kind of discretionary spending, at this kind of resort, in this kind of location when the economy has lost tens of thousands of jobs and the unemployment rate is quite high. This is Michelle Obama's EIGHTH vacation in the past several months. She's got several more this month. (The Gulf and Martha's Vineyard.) It's a bit much to me. It would be if the First Family were white or Republican. |
Anonymous
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Whether the Obamas, their friends, or we the taxpayers are paying is not my issue. According to CBS, the entourage has filled up to 60 rooms in a $300 to 6,000 dollar a night hotel (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/05/eveningnews/main6747469.shtml). That's a LOT of money being pumped into the Spanish economy, however you slice it. Here's what Michelle Obama said a few weekends ago during her brief Gulf visit. Is a comment even necessary here to call attention to the humongous elephant in the room?
l"During her 15 minute speech she praised the beauty of our beaches. "It's welcoming, it's pristine, and everybody should come here!" said Obama. She also reinforced a crucial message. "It's important for the rest of the country to know these places are just as beautiful as they have always been." Obama also shared a possible solution. "Truly, the best thing your fellow Americans can do is come down here and spend some money." http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/98295519.html |