Monday, August 9, 2010

The Reign in Spain



Following another dismal unemployment report and tumbling numbers on Wall Street, many people are taking a dim view of Michelle Obama's 5-Star vacation to Spain, which is expected to cost cash-strapped taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Speaking from a luxury resort on the Mediterranean, the first lady defended her use of taxpayer funds saying "for the first time in my adult life, I'm proud to say that I'm getting really excellent
room service."

Whitehouse spokespeople also defended the first lady's vacation, pointing out that it was needed to help her rest up from this summer's already grueling schedule of vacationing in Chicago, Camp David, and Maine, and to help her build up strength for this coming weekend's draining Florida vacation, after which she'll have only a few days to recover before leaving August 19th for an exhausting 10-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard.

Some harsh media pundits have looked at Michelle Obama's tendency to run up huge expenditures while Americans are suffering and compared her excesses to those of Marie Antoinette.

But the first lady is quick to put such critics in their place, saying: "Let them eat flan."

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13 comments:

Bobo said...

Didn't the O'bamas have an income of several million dollars last year? Let them pay for their own damn vacations.

On the other hand, I'd like to give them both a free boot ride to the moon.

The Dark Knight said...

Nice to see Barry's "Bitter Half" enjoying herself.. Lord knows she deserves it what with all her gardening and talking down to the little people

Must take a lot out of her to be so much better than everyone else all the time.. can you imagine?

TDK

Buzz Bannister said...

Wonder what would happen if they had to pay the tax on this "benefit".

alan markus said...

It was only a matter of time before the liberal Rapid Response Team would counter this:
Twitter/Eric Boehlert:Odd:Laura Bush was Untouchable
"Odd: Laura Bush was untouchable but Hillary and Michelle = open season as First Ladies. Behold lib. media."

Yeah, But Laura Bush Went On An African Safari
"As the wife of the U.S. president tours Africa, she will be shining a spotlight on malaria as well as AIDS. While the former does not grab the same headlines, it far outstrips AIDS as the continent's biggest child killer, claiming one young life every 30 seconds....
During her stay in Mozambique on Wednesday, Laura Bush was due to visit a site near the Mozal aluminum smelter, where authorities want to spray house walls with DDT to ward off mosquitoes, using funds from the U.S. Malaria Initiative that commits $1.2 billion over the next five years. Of the target 15 countries, about half are expected to use some of the money to spray with insecticides."

The Dark Knight said...

Ms. Powers really should try a little harder .. I think her 'spin machine' might be on the fritz

Mrs. Bush, as the article she provided points out, was there to highlight the effects of malaria and aids... Barry's "Bitter Half" was there on vacation and allowed the King/Queen to entertain them for the requisite photo-op that is required to turn in the receipts for taxpayer reimbursement

Nice try though...

My Dog Brewski said...

It's not that they take vacations, but the frequency of them that rubs people (and dogs) the wrong way, especially during a freaking awful recession. The people of this country are focused on survival and I'm stuck eating cheap kibble and forgoing fleabaths while the Obama's are focused on partying on the taxpayer dime. Brilliant.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Readers- We're enjoying your comments! To be fair, Michelle's portion of the vacation is technically being paid for out of the family's personal millions. But because she needs to travel with a large taxpayer-funded entourage (and on government aircraft), the bills are unavoidably astronomical. Unavoidable, that is, unless she chose to put the American taxpayers first and rein in her plans, thereby showing some sympathy for the plight of the peasants.

pryorguy said...

In my opinion, Mrs Obama is being just as devoid of compassion for the struggling American public as the Muslim community is for wanting to build their mosque so close to ground zero.

Dr.D said...

She is a ugly in her heart as she is in her face.

Emmentaler Limburger said...

C'mon. The great 0bama need n0t justify the acti0ns of him 0r his empress t0 y0u pewling rabble! He w0n. Get 0ver it!

Wh0 cares that 9.5% 0f y0u are 0ut 0f w0rk? It is Y0UR fault! Y0u sh0uld have taken j0bs in the travel agencies the 0bamas use! THEN y0u'd be w0rkin'! Yeah! Plenty 0f j0bs cartin' the 0bama treasure ar0und! 0r y0u c0uld have had the f0rth0ught t0 get 0n the 0bama h0useh0ld staff 0r Imperial Security detail! S0 don't whine t0 US f0r y0r p00r career ch0ices! If the pri0r administrati0n had n0t dr0pped the ball, y0u all w0uld have received the necessary TRAINING t0 t0te 0ur stuff.

Yeah, d0n't be whinin' t0 us. It is the first time in Michelle's adult life that she has been pr0ud 0f America. D0n't be a buzz kill. Heaven f0rbid y0u make her change her "mind". Then y0u will face the wrath 0f The Gl0ri0us Dem0cratic S0cialist Party!

Suzy said...

So the USA has really rotten room service, is that it?

I'm not one for "class envy" or anything but this is getting ridiculous. And the media was begrudging Bush's time on his own ranch????

I HOPE to see the Obamas actually do some "work" like everyone else, for a CHANGE, one of these days.

Anonymous said...

Great example to set for America in a time when we have a national debt like no other. lesson: "As long as the tax payer is paying, take them to the cleaners. It free and youooos owe me !" Typical paasites mentality.

Anonymous said...

President's and their families deserve vacations like everyone else. maybe even more of them due to the stress and the fact that they are usually working vacations. However, their is a limit, especially when the country is suffering from a recession, one of the worst ecological disasters in our history and upwards of 15% of the nation is jobless. Especially when those vacations are back to back to back to... Then the Mrs. and the kids run off to Spain to say hi to some dignitaries and lounge it up in 5 star rooms and kick a bunch of people off of a beach to soak up some rays.

If they really need that many vacations, how about spending out tax money here. Even with the oil spill the Gulf Coast is nice. How about Las Vegas? Nevada has some of the highest unemployment in the nation. Tone deaf doesn't begin to describe the Obama's and their ilk. Elitist Pigs? Maybe, but its more likely that some wet-behind the ears, inexperienced dude got elected President and doesn't know how to act like he's been there before. Instead BHO and his family act like they just won the lottery.