Michelle Obama's luxury Spanish vacation
Ralph Alter
When Marie Antoinette was told the peasants had no bread, her famous rejoinder was the suggestion to "Let them eat cake."
Pampered on the our tax dollars with a staff whose salaries exceed $1.6 million annually, Michelle Obama has not been unwilling to take maximum advantage of the perks of an unlimited expense account as first lady.
The latest report on Obama extravagance indicates that Michelle Obama will take a summer break with one of her daughters "in the company of old friends" on the Costa del Sol in Spain:
Michelle Obama has reserved 30 rooms for herself and her daughter, their friends and bodyguards at a five-star hotel in Benahavis near Marbella, hotel sources said.
How does anyone need 30 rooms for a mother-daughter trip?
Add this latest extravagance to the non-stop White House concert series that has included such pricey entertainers as Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney among very many others. Even were the stars to perform gratis,
Professional equipment needs to be brought in-sound engineers, stage lights, etc... Even small scale performances by these artists can be very expensive.
Add booze, food, security, invitations, social secretaries, wait staff and hangers on to the tab and the price for one of these events could top $75k. With over 27 concerts hosted thus far, the cost to the taxpayers is in the millions of dollars.....it has been estimated that the Obama White House spent at least $10 million dollars on "drunken White House parties" in 2009 alone.
Whether its $250,000 spent on a date night in New York, ordering carry-out pizza for 120 people from 850 miles away,or flying the family dog on a separate jet to join the Obamas on their 8th vacation since taking office, this time in Maine, it's clear that Barack and Michelle are living very large at the taxpayer's expense without so much as a second thought.
If either of them would settle down and actually do something productive for our nation they might have less time to spend blowing our money.
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The question really is: when is it an "official trip" and when is it a vacation disguised as an official trip?
I think a lot of taxpayers are wise to the game the Obamas play. Mooch-mooch--mooch!!!
Michelle Antoinette will justify the lavish, expensive vacation and grab it on the taxpayers' dime by meeting with the king of Spain and therefore making the trip "official business." This isn't the first time this has happened with the Obamas. The Grand Canyon vacation was also on our dime. Barry and Michelle made up a lame excuse to justify it.
Thirty rooms at a 5-star hotel is not a trip with minimal staff.
The Obamas need to pay for their own vacations just as everyone else does. This is a disgrace when so many average Americans can't afford even modest vacations this year.
Shame on Michelle Obama!
.....Warph
Maybe Shadows thread explains all the vacations.
Why Roma Jean, are you implying that if the "ol cow" can't get serviced at home, that she is going to Spain to hook up with a "fighting bull" ?
Or maybe she just needs to get away from all the ""BULL". :laugh: :laugh:
You should read "Spoken From the Heart"
It is on my list, I'm a fan of Laura Bush.
Roma Jean,
I wish I had known you were a fan of Laura Bush. In June I went to K.C. for a "reading / book signing" for one of my Lt's from Nam who wrote the novel "Matterhorn" . Later the same book store was having Laura Bush. We thought about going but forgot until it was too late.
It is a very good book and does include all her travels, even her annual trips to Grand Canyon with her girlfriends.
Thu Aug 5, 6:43 pm ET
First lady under fire for her glitzy Spanish vacation
By Holly Bailey
As her husband celebrated his 49th birthday in Chicago with Oprah (and at the infamous "Bath House, no doubt), first lady Michelle Obama was halfway around the world, on vacation with her 9-year-old daughter, Sasha, in Spain. The two are traveling on what the White House has described as a four-day "private trip" with several Obama family friends along the country's ritzy southern coast.
Of course, no first lady's life is truly ever private, and already plenty of drama is swirling around Michelle Obama's foreign jaunt. Some critics have laid into the trip's price, while others are highlighting an apparent diplomatic gaffe between the United States and Spain.
Fox News reports that prior to the first lady's arrival, the State Department had issued a travel warning to Americans advising that "racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain." The wording was reportedly removed from the State Department website Monday, ahead of Michelle Obama's arrival in the country Wednesday.
Yet the bigger public furor concerns the cost and appearance of the trip. In a scathing editorial published Thursday, New York Daily News writer Andrea Tantaros trashed Michelle Obama as a "modern day Marie Antoinette" for taking such a glitzy vacation while most of the country is struggling to make ends meet.The Obama entourage is staying at the luxury Hotel Villa Padierna, a Ritz-Carlton property often described as one of the world's top 10 hotels. Rates range between $500 and $2,500 a night. It's not clear that the Obama delegation picked this hotel specifically, or if the Secret Service — which often gets final say over where a protectee stays — made the accommodations call.
Either way, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the first lady will pay her personal expenses — as will the friends who are traveling with her. But that only covers a small part of the ultimate expense, given that she has full-time Secret Service protection and has to travel with an entourage of staff. That cost, as well as her travel on board an official Air Force charter plane, is covered by taxpayers.
As the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports, by the end of the summer, the first lady will have taken eight vacations. That includes a June trip to Los Angeles, where she and her daughters attended the NBA Finals, as well as an upcoming trip to the Florida Gulf Coast next weekend and a 10-day visit to Martha's Vineyard later this month with the president.
Michelle Obama is hardly the only first lady to travel overseas without her husband. Laura Bush and her daughters, Barbara and Jenna, traveled to Africa in 2007, where they went on safari. Yet her trip was regarded as an "official" visit and included several public events. According to the White House, this trip is entirely private, save for a photo-op with the Spanish royal family, who has invited the first lady and her daughter for an official visit.
"Official" or not it does cost MONEY. Warph, who pays for the official visits? ???
The Tax-Payer. Anything the gummitt does when it comes to spending money, it comes out of your pocket, Guns.
Anger mounts over Michelle Obama's £150k Spanish holiday bill... footed by U.S. taxpayer
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1300852/Anger-mounts-Michelle-Obamas-150k-holiday--footed-U-S-taxpayer.html#ixzz0vqYNIJ9p
Another little quote from CBSNEWS: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20012789-503544.html
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.
Warph: This is "HorseShit" as usual from liberal CBS News. With four General Electric jet engines, each capable of 56,700 pounds of thrust, the bird can fly at 630 miles per hour (Mach 0.92) and run 7,800 miles without that in-flight refueling or fuel stops. It also weighs 833,000 pounds. So figure $68,000 per hour.... x 6.5 to Spain and 6.5 back, 13 hours = $884,000. and that's just for fuel according to 2009 stats.
Perhaps the most widely known flagship of the fleet is "Air Force One,'' which happens to be whatever aircraft is carrying the president. There are two specially configured Boeing 747-200B's -- tail numbers 28000 and 29000 - assigned to the task. The Air Force calls them VC-25A's - the big difference between these aircraft and the basic 747 being its navigation and communications equipment and capability for in-flight refueling. M.Obama (in her eighth vacation this year as some reporter said from the Chicago Sun Times) is using "Air Force Two".... So, yes, it costs the tax payer a hell of a lot to get it off the ground and keep it there.
Also, don't forget the cost of 70 plus secret service agents and lodging for them.
Exactly!!! So why the hell would I care who goes on the ride? I can assure Jarhead and others this didn't just start with Michelle Obama, nor will it end with her.
Does anyone remember the many vacations that Jackie took, with and without her children? Or what a globe-trotter that Eleanor Roosevelt was? Those are just the ones that I remember. How many other first ladies travelled that the media didn't make a big deal out of?
Quote from: Wilma on August 07, 2010, 08:28:33 AM
Does anyone remember the many vacations that Jackie took, with and without her children? Or what a globe-trotter that Eleanor Roosevelt was? Those are just the ones that I remember. How many other first ladies travelled that the media didn't make a big deal out of?
NONE of the other First ladies took 27 assitants with them. Sorry but this woman is way out of line!
I poked around a number of sources and came up with 14-22 "assistants" for Laura Bush, about the same for Hillary and 22-26 for Michelle Obama. Some numbers include the social secretaries and some don't. Sounds like a lot of people for all of them doesn't it? There are lists available of their names and duties.
None of the others needed that many. First lady travels are as much more complex today as everything else is. I am not sure that Eleanor even had to have Secret Service travel with her.
With the way that the media messes up everything else, why would anyone believe this one? I am not going to get into a snit because Michelle wanted to take her youngest daughter on a vacation. Other mothers do it all the time. Do you think she really enjoys being surrounded by restrictions all the time? Would you?
Quote from: Diane Amberg on August 07, 2010, 10:07:31 AM
I poked around a number of sources and came up with 14-22 "assistants" for Laura Bush, about the same for Hillary and 22-26 for Michelle Obama. Some numbers include the social secretaries and some don't. Sounds like a lot of people for all of them doesn't it? There are lists available of their names and duties.
What i found was 1 for laura bush, and 3 for hillary, 1 for barbara bush, 1 or 2 for mrs reagan.
What is really galling is that we the taxpayers paid for 70+ people there to eat a 66 dollar a head dinner. PLUS around 2k a room jn that lavish hotel. It wouldn't be so bad if they bunked up everyone 4 to a room. That would make sense.
Where is your source and what did they define as "assistants?'' That is 'way too low for any of them ! Somebody is playing with numbers to make Michelle look bad and that isn't right. They ALL had a bunch of people who worked for them. If they are going to fake numbers at least make it look reasonable.
Ok, here is the list for Laura Bush. I'm not picking on her, I really liked her, ya know,one of us "socialist'' teachers and all. ;) My point is fair is fair. All the way back to Jackie there has been an increasing interest the the first ladies and all they do. Hence more mail, more publicity and more people hired to help. Roslynn Carter was one of the few who managed to make her life mostly off limits and that was before the ravaging 24 hour a day news coverage fighting for tidbits.
Anita Mc Bride, Chief of Staff for LB, Cherie Harder, Project Director for LB Sally Niemiec Press, secretary for LB, Sonja Miller, Dep. Chief of Staff for LB, Deanna Ballard, Director of Sheduling for LB, Carrie Underwood, Director of Programs and Projects for LB Charity Wallace, Director of Advance for LB, Misty Marshall, Director of correspondence for LB, Marisa Etter, Dep. Director of scheduling, Kristina King, Dep. Director of Advance, Lindsey Lineweaver, Special assistant and Personal aide to LB, Kimberly Rawson, Assistant to the Chief of Staff to LB, T. Donohue, Dep. Press Scretary to LB, Campbell Vogel, Dep. Director of Correspondence. Johnathan Black, Assistant Press Secretary
$1,083,700.00
Obama takes Marine-One chopper for 6-mile trip
President Barack Obama left the White House this morning for a six-mile trip to a sign factory on the Maryland-D.C. border. But instead of taking the presidential motorcade, he took Marine One — the presidential helicopter.
A quick map search shows the drive would have taken at least 20 minutes, but the helicopter trip took just eight. And, according to one unofficial estimate, it was the 300th trip Obama has taken in Marine One since taking office 20 months ago.
The Secret Service declined to discuss any details about the president's travel plans, which they say fall under "ways and means"— information that, if made public, could threaten the president's safety. Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said Obama decided to fly instead of drive to the sign factory "probably because it's easier than [taking] a motorcade through the city in the middle of the day."
Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, says that it is impossible to calculate how much presidential travel costs or even how much energy is consumed.
Schatz says that whether by motorcade or flight, the cost of transporting the president includes factors such as the use of local police details, military staff, fuel and even the cost of inconveniencing travelers on the road.
"There's not a lot to say about how presidents travel and how much it costs because nobody knows," Schatz says. "You can't really say, 'Oh, if he took the motorcade, it might be less money.' " Obama has traveled by motorcade — each of which features Secret Service vehicles, an ambulance, a bomb-squad detail and several police motorcycles for traffic control — for short, in-town trips, including a visit to a community center in Washington's Anacostia neighborhood for a Father's Day speech.
Still, "It would be very helpful to the taxpayers if there was a distinct White House travel budget, and everybody could look at it," Schatz added. "Is it really a state secret to know how much is being spent on his travel?"
The travel between the White House and Andrews Air Force Base and back likely accounts for most of the 300 Marine One flights that Obama has taken since assuming office. From there, the president will board Air Force One to travel longer distances.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40771.html#ixzz0vwdowHXs