Posted on 08/06/2010 6:41:01 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
As her husband celebrated his 49th birthday in Chicago with Oprah, 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.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
how about marie obama donating here vacation money to pay teachers unions.
pay their own ‘personal’ expenses...what this means that they’ll pay the standard per diem rate of $273/day for hotel and et ceteras and stick us with the rest of the cost. I’ll be you her ‘friends’ don’t pay shit.
As she should be. Imagine how the DBM would have howled if Laura Bush had done this!!
Last Paragraph:
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.
How did I know Laura Bush would make it into this article?
Hey Robbie, can we see a copy of the receipts?
When you’re really trying to make serious change, you don’t want people to get caught up in emotion because change isn’t emotion. It’s real work and organization and strategy.. that’s just the truth of it. I mean, you pull people in with inspiration, but then you have to roll up your sleeves and you’ve got to make sacrifices and you have got to have structure. ~ Michelle Obama
Entirely private paid for with tax dollars.
Rank the Yahoo comments by rating - their royally ripping her.
I hope that it's covered ad nauseum on CNN, ABC, NBC, etc.
I hope that photos and stories are prominently displayed in Us, People, TMZ, etc.
More than one vacation per quarter - this First Lady bit ain’t bad work, if you can get it.
Who are these mystery family friends that she is visiting?? There’s something else here and the daughter is just a cover.
I didnt know first ladies got a salary
As the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports, by the end of the summer, the first lady will have taken eight vacations
Eight vacations in 18 months, talk about being extravagant and out of touch with what regular Americans are currently experiencing! My family is lucky to get one vacation a year.
Unreal. They’re = Their. Sorry.
The Grifters and their vacations : the rape of the American taxpayer.
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