CURL: The Obamas live the 1 percent life

The Washington Times ^ | March 31, 2013 | Joseph Curl

[Perseverando]

Snip:

But something remarkable has happened with these occupants of the White House: Neither President Obama nor first lady Michelle appear to give a damn about perception. They won the White House and, by God, they’re going to enjoy their time there, no matter the cost. And who cares what you think, anyway?

How else to explain the nonstop vacations the pair keep taking during what Mr. Obama calls the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”? In 2013, the First Family has already enjoyed three vacations — that’s one a month. (Sorry, Joe America, you might have to forget your week at the beach again this year, but make sure you get those taxes in on time!)

The Obamas ended 2012 and kicked off 2013 in an $8 million, 6,000-square-foot house in Hawaii (they left well before Dec. 25, by the way). There, the president played five rounds of golf (breaking the 100-rounds-as-president threshold). Scarcely a month into Term 2, Mrs. Obama headed off for Aspen, taking along the couple’s daughters. Vice President Joseph R. Biden also hit the Colorado slopes. While the girls (and Joe) were gone, Mr. Obama nipped down to Florida for a four-day boys weekend of golf, teeing it up with his buddies — and Tiger Woods. He hit the links again this weekend, then dropped in for an NCAA tournament game in Washington.

Jumpin’ Joe, for his part, spent New Year’s in the Virgin Islands and popped off over the Easter weekend for a golf outing at the glorious Kiawah Island, S.C. (where rounds of golf on the spectacular Ocean Course run $353 — nearly $20 a hole). His third vacation of the year came the same week as reports that he and his entourage spent $460,000 for a single night in London

[RobbyS]

Many do, but as far as the Irish were concerned, the immigrants had a terrible reputation, which helps explain the Nativist movement of the 1850s. Most were peasants who now found themselves in an urban environment, had no skills and were famous for their drunkedness. It wasn’t special to America. Back in Ireland, there was a temperance movement of significance. Poverty was rampant, and the English were departing people because they didn’t want to keep them in work camps. Coming to the coastal cities, they competed with the blacks and there was a great deal of hatred between the groups, as well as with the Natives.