I'm thinking of wearing those drapes to the next formal dinner, Laura.
Posted on 03/30/2009 12:59:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
At a time when people are having trouble holding on to their houses, Barack and Michelle Obama have sensibly decided not to use taxpayers’ money to renovate theirs. New presidents are allotted $100,000 to overhaul the White House residence and the Oval Office, and the Obamas hired Hollywood decorator Michael S. Smith (known, per his site, for mixing “Old World classicism with very contemporary settings”). But the First Couple isn’t spending that money. They “are not using public funds or accepting donations of goods for redecorating their private quarters,” says Camille Johnston, director of communications for the First Lady. Nor is the couple, who reported $4.2 million in household income in 2007 tax returns, using money from the White House Historical Association, a privately funded foundation that paid for a $74,000 set of china shortly before Laura Bush left town.
But does this mean they’re going to spend more than $100,000 or less? Though Michelle Obama has talked up Pottery Barn, Smith’s client list includes cost-is-no-object types like Rupert Murdoch, Steven Spielberg, and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain—for whom he procured that $87,783 rug. “There’s no question that he’ll get it done in the way that it’s supposed to be done,” says Smith client and Democratic donor Katherine Chez. “But how, I don’t know.” The White House declined to disclose the budget, saying that all expenses would remain private as a result of the Obamas’ decision to absorb the cost.
They needed the headline more than they needed new drapes.
Watch what he does, not what he says.
Anybody who takes an entourage of 500 people on a trip to an global economic summit can’t possibly be concerned about appearing frugal.
I bet Obama only rejected the 100 grand becuase it was too little. He will get the money from somewhere else. His campaign funds perhaps.
He probably blows $100k for each of those lavish parties he loves to have.
Gimme a break. Not to mention his wasteful use of Air Force One.
Maybe this way, unlike the Clinton’s they can take the furniture legally when they get thrown out in 12.
The O has already spent more time away from the oval than bubba.
I'm thinking of wearing those drapes to the next formal dinner, Laura.
Michael S. Smith is the same man who decorated Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain’s executive office. The same redecoration that the Obamas railed against.
This turd is leaving a Stalinist smear on the White House.
"It was just something I saw in the window"
O is not allowed to smoke (or schmoke) inside the White House.
He didn’t accept public campaign funds either.
People either have integrity or they don’t. Obama falls in the don’t category.
They have to put up a huge White Hut facade all around the White Hut to hide what they are destroying!
He won’t need to use campaign money for the furniture. His foreign fans can give him the $$$. It’s a “gift” after all. Limits on contributions be damned. This is OBAMA we are talking about. Rules were meant to be broken. This is the PEOPLE’S House, Y’all. < /sarc >
Setting the stage to take stuff with ‘em when they leave...
SNORT!
:)
ACORN, seeing as they've suddenly come into a huge amount of money.
They know they need WAY more than $100K. Michelle probably can’t even do the draperies for that.
Their crib was good enough for white people.
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