quotable

"Once abolish God and the government becomes the God." -G.K. Chesterton

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Let Them Eat Hope n Change


As promised, the president is focused on jobs like a laser. His job, that is, and the jobs of his wife's travel staff. Which is why he and the First Lady will be holding seven fundraisers next week, including five in one day.

(White House Dossier)— First Lady Michelle Obama will appear at three fundraisers next Thursday, June 30, bringing to seven the number of fundraisers she has held this month.
The heavy schedule of money raising this far out from Election Day suggests that the Obama reelection campaign is going to make frequent use of the first lady, both to raise money and campaign. By comparison, former First Lady Laura Bush held 13 fundraisers in all of 2003, the year before George W. Bush’s reelection.

All of this travel takes place on the taxpayer dime, nothing new for presidential elections, but the number of $38,000 per plate fundraisers sandwiching official state business is growing out of proportion and looks especially thoughtless given the train wreck of an economy facing everyday Americans who only wish they had jobs.


Of course, one must wonder how the First Lady will hold up after completing her own personal Amazing Race, freshly back from an African holiday just two months removed from a family getaway to Brazil, three months after a jaunt to Vail, and five months after an extended sabbatical to Hawaii. These are on top of her transatlantic trips to London and Spain last year, where entire hotels and beaches were reserved and boulevards closed off so Michelle could hit the resort avenue shops. Let's Move, indeed.


Forget Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? The question du jour is Where in the World is Caravan Obama? Can we afford to pay for four more years of these extravagant excursions? Michelle Obama is intent on seeing the world while most families are lucky enough to afford Sea World. It's hardly partisan to ask for some restraint during these tough times, for our leaders to not take advantage of some of the privileges we allow them as public servants.


But not to worry, because we have it from the president's mouth that the economy is the first thing he thinks about from the time he gets up in the morning to the minute he puts on his golf spikes for that 75th round of golf. Has it really been two years since his administration passed a budget? Well, what's the big rush. When you're this far in the red you can pretty much guesstimate. After all, a decline is a decline.


I'm sure the Obamas have some wonderful souvenirs to show for their time in office, but what America has to show for it is worth less than a lousy t-shirt - three years of 1.5 trillion dollar deficits, creeping inflation, sinking GDP, high unemployment, and the longest length of unemployment since the Great Depression, not to mention a 35% increase in the national debt since 2008, but at least we have a president who looks fabulous in $10,000 suits and a First Lady who spends as much per hour jet-setting around the world.


If the POTUS finds any time for the inconvenient business of governing between the hard work of running a billion dollar campaign, we should be so lucky. If he calls for more than a symbolic budget meeting with Republicans, we should be even luckier. If the president listens to some of the nine month old recommendations of his now defunct Debt Commission, we might even have a chance to save this great nation for future generations.


Or we can just live vicariously through our nation's first family of grifters.


Hat Tip: Bluegrass Pundit


UPDATE: White House Dossier is now reporting the First Lady's African vacation cost taxpayers at least half a million dollars.

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