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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Because Waiting For Vacation Would Be Unfair

From The Hill comes a report that Michelle Obama's failure to wait for her husband before leaving for vacation has cost the taxpayers $63,000, FLOTUS Chows At The Taxpayers' Trough:
First lady Michelle Obama didn't feel like waiting around cold, boring old Washington, D.C., for her husband and Congress to wrap up their work for the year. So she simply stuck the taxpayers with the $63,000 tab to start her Hawaiian vacation a bit early — just a few short months after the Spain vacation with her gal-pals that set us all back a pretty penny.

With her husband announcing a two-year pay freeze for federal employees as a way to save taxpayers a few precious dollars, it's jaw-dropping that Michelle Obama could be so relentlessly politically tone-deaf. And insensitive. And even a tad bit selfish, spoiled and thoughtless, perhaps? I tend to cringe when folks gratuitously slam the first lady simply because they don't like her husband's policies, but this latest antic on the part of Michelle Obama really takes the cake. 
I disagree completely.  Why should the first family have to wait for the President?  And who cares if they wasted a few tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars?

It would be terribly unfair to expect the first family to sacrifice even a tiny bit for the nation, or to set an example for the rest of the federal government in pulling in the fiscal belt.

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14 comments:

  1. I believe that you have just laid the ideological foundation for recreational justice.

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  2. Of course, the cost is double, probably triple that amount. The empty plane has to fly home and the phalanx of secret service that accompany her costs plenty.

    I've never commented before so I'd like to leave a link to my latest video Team Obama Food Police™ Just Eat It

    It's a satire about Michelle O and has been the subject of attacks by people close to the White House...little ol' me.

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  3. The arrogance, or sense of entitlement, of the elected officials does not stop with POTUS & FLOTUS but it speaks volumes when they can, in the same month, complain continuing the tax rates for all (including the rich) is immoral and burden the working class, and at the same time think nothing of using Military airlift as their VIP charters. I wonder how full Ms. Pelosi's flight was as she headed home for Christmas? Do you think she opened up any seats for servicemen and woman trying to get home for Christmas?

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  4. Michelle is the anti-Marie Antoinette...don't let them eat cake.

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  5. I'm pretty sure this entire thread is racist.

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  6. I am on the brink of homelessness.

    I could stay alive for another three years on the money she wasted because she could wait for her plane just a little longer.

    If I live, I will *never* forget.

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  7. Note how she seems to jump at the chance to get out of town without Barry.

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  8. So, tell me again why Michelle My Belle is the most popular woman in the explored universe?

    I thought we hated the rich and famous for their flamboyant lifestyles . . . and Big Belts.

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  9. Wait a minuet, she had to go first so Bo could get his papers checked and get through quarantine. This way Obama would had some poo he knows how to deal with

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  10. I could understand the outrage if she'd paid that to a private business, but being angry about this just doesn't make sense. The $63k is an estimate based on what the DOD charges other agencies for flight time - $6,300 per flight hour. However, the money (if even charged) simply goes from one federal coffer to another. The only true expense (that comes to mind anyway) is fuel. Anyone staffing the plane is military, so they're already getting paid whether flying or not, and they're presumably landing at a military base, so there's no additional expense there either. Aside from fuel costs, I simply can't see what else this hypothetically charged money would go to that doesn't keep it firmly within the federal coffers.
    Honestly, there are _plenty_ of things to be mad about with this administration, but picking this seems misguided.

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  11. I'm a little disappointed in your pettiness and unfair judgement Mr. Jacobson. Presidents of both parties have always taken vacations and being a professor who works at a school, who gets part of its funding via government grants, probably thinks he deserves his. Teaching can be stressful. Time to recharge and spend time with family makes for a better teacher and a better president. The Obama's have quite a ways to go before they match the time and money Bush 43 spent on vacations. "President Bush took 149 trips to Camp David, 77 visits to his Crawford ranch, and 11 trips to his father's Kennebunkport mansion. Since Air Force One reportedly cost $56,800 per hour to operate in 2004 (which Bush used to get to Crawford), and the plane can travel up to 630 miles per hour, it cost at least $259,657 to get the 2,880 miles to Crawford and back, each time Bush went, or roughly $20 million dollars just for taking the plane on the Crawford trips alone. Add in the cost of putting up Secret Service and other staff for the ranch trips, as well as the Kennebunkport and Camp David trips, and you get, well, a lot."

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  12. It's the endless sermons on sacrifice and self-denial that we get from MO that make this irritating.

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  13. Step out of her way. If there is a vacay or food...you better clear out.

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  14. Well, all the vacations the other presidents took were not all fun and games like they are for our Frat Boy In Chief *WHO DOESNT WORK*.

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