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Michelle Obama's summer vacation to Spain with daughter Sasha is coming under attack by some critics who say her trip shows poor taste during tough economic times.
Although Obama and her friends paid for their own hotel rooms and meals, the first lady requires Secret Service security everywhere she goes.
The AP writes:
But the first lady does travel with Secret Service protection -- at taxpayer expense, cost unannounced -- and the expense of flying her military jet to Europe and back must have been considerable. Her entourage did book 60 rooms at one posh hotel, where the average room price is about $660, and claimed more rooms elsewhere. And police did shut down a 100-meter section of a Mediterranean beach for the Obamas during a Friday visit to Estepona.
In a time of nearly double-digit unemployment and economic uncertainty, that sounded more than a little off-key to many in the U.S. And although the White House seemed blindsided by the criticism, perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise.
It's tough to draw the line between the need for a vacation and not offending people, said the chief of staff of former First Lady Laura Bush.
"Obviously, this was a risk," Anita McBride told the AP. "The more expensive a trip, the more criticism it invites. And yet that has to be balanced against the fact that the first lady, like anybody else, is in need of a vacation and a change of scenery."
White House adviser David Axelrod also defended the popular first lady:
"Yes, she is the first lady of the United States. She's also a mom. She wanted to take her daughter on a trip. They went with some friends of the family to celebrate another little girl's birthday. There aren't all that many places to go where you get privacy. Wherever you go, security is going to come, not because she asked for it, but because that is a nature of her, of her position in life," Axelrod said on CNN."
Obama joined a friend, the doctor who delivered her two daughters and the doctor's children on the trip to Spain at her friend's suggestion. While there, Obama made an official visit to King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia.
Democrats said the criticism was ridiculous.
"It's wrong to talk about the first lady's family vacation as a politician," Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine said Monday on NBC's 'Today' show. "She's a mom."
The criticism does seem a little over the top, especially since Obama paid for her own hotel and meals. For security reasons, she obviously must have Secret Service protection. Secret Service also probably doesn't want the first lady on a commercial aircraft for safety reasons.
The fact of the matter is that if Obama were to fly to California and stay at a $50-per-night beach motel, she'd still require Secret Service security and would still have to fly aboard the presidential aircraft. Michelle is not the president of the United States. He was back at the White House working, but even he deserves an occasional break.
This is a mother-daughter trip that Obama probably would have taken if her husband where still a senator or a college professor.
It's good to see parents spending time with their children, and it's good to see children being exposed to other cultures.
Unfortunately, in today's ugly political climate, issues that are not issues are used to distract the public from the real issues facing the country, such as the unemployment rate and the inability of the Senate to pass any bipartisan legislation, even if the legislation is helpful to Americans.
Even uber-popular First Lady Jackie Kennedy faced criticism 40 years ago when she took her daughter on vacation.
The AP writes:
When Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline spent three weeks at a seaside villa in Italy in 1962, the biggest controversy seemed to be over the first lady's decision to take Caroline water skiing. A London tabloid, which displayed a photo of Kennedy holding her crying daughter's head above water after a spill, proclaimed the outing "madness." A Colorado minister criticized her for appearing in public in a bathing suit and staying out until the early morning hours "while away from the U.S. and her husband."
See how ridiculous that sounds now. Don't fall for it.
Comments: (28)
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By: wha-up on 8/10/2010 11:49AM
change of sceenary? the white house not good enough? come on, she could have at least spent that money here in america, where we need it bad, sounds like she really cares about you and men
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By: mystia2004 on 8/10/2010 12:20PM
Seriously, you still wouldn't have seen that money. Why can't she take a trip to a different country? They take vacations in america. They just went to martha vineyard and their going to the gulf coast. Again why are people caring about this? This is not news please get to the real news.
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By: dvine on 8/10/2010 12:30PM
this is news.. wth.. who cares where the hell she went.. i don't remember it being news when Bush was president and his damn itinerary being on the internet or the news for ppl to criticize that.. her traveling is not putting a dent in any of our pockets..
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By: tlcanimal on 8/10/2010 12:51PM
Not out of our pocketbooks? Who do you think is paying for the $11,000+ per hour it takes to operate the jet she took to Spain and the $7500 per day for her security?? Government money IS our money.
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By: beee on 8/10/2010 1:03PM
@ tlcanimal .. will this money be missed?? what about the outrageous spending of our governors, mayors, the businesses needing a bailout, and the execs that spend lavishly?!
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By: stopwhining on 8/10/2010 1:49PM
@ticanimal
They Government will take this trip out of your check starting next month in monthly installments, I suggest you redo your budget.
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By: Chrea on 8/10/2010 1:20PM
Cheney was on vacation the entire time he served as Vice-President and boy was that a waste of tax-payer's dollars. If Michelle had stayed home, secret service is still required to be in her presence. Give me a break! I am sure most of the politicians complaining wrote all their trips off at the expense of the American people!
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By: MS PEGGY on 8/10/2010 1:02PM
How utterly ridiculous can people be? Michelle is a good mother, wife and daughter. She is well educated and worked prior to her husband being elected to the White House. She authored a book. In a nutshell, she has her own money and even if she didn't she's married to a man who makes good money. So, why all the commotion because she took her young daughter on a vacation to Spain? Would people have been this irate if they had gone to Disneyland or is it just because she went to a foreign country? Excuse me, but I don't get the animosity towards her.
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By: gerald on 8/10/2010 4:36PM
Thats right you dont get it.
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By: Tokunboh on 9/07/2010 1:44AM
Only in this prejudiced-infused society could it EVER have been an issue for the President or his family members to take a short vacation [spending thousands of dollars of their own money] only to be assailed in the myopic hate-mongering media for spending "so much money in a recession", while Meg Whitman, a Republican contender for the California governorship, zips through $100 million [yes, $100 million in one year so far; that wasn't a misprint- go figure how she intends to recoup that money IF elected] on hate-filled campaign advertisements and not one of these racist morons bats an eyelid, showing the true composition of their bitter and vile nature. It is amazing that there could exist such ignorant, hate-filled, creepy racist morons in the greatest country on the face of the planet in the first place. I am still trying to determine what separates these 'people' and Hitler because all the fake hubris and fear-mongering hoopla seems to me like a form sociological gas chamber as it is. Your Nazi storm troopers already are asking for people's 'papers', the justice system has an enormous disparity in sentencing guidelines and equality in community revenue allocation is a joke. Anyone with half a brain can see what really motivates these 'people'...hatred of other races. This is commonly referred to as...yes,RACISM! Grow up already! These updated KKK-like attack antics are transparent and sadly irrelevant in a multi-racial society that is becoming more, not less, diverse with each passing day.
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