White House Frets Luxury Vacation Of Firsrt Lady Sends Bad Vibe During Bad Time$

[Just Win]

Looks like the White House political opinion shapers are in much consternation over the fist lady and her extravagant Mediterranean get away with her daughters and a host of Friends at a 5 star excessively opulent resort in Spain. The fear is this is sending one bad vibe in he midst of skyrocketing unemployment, slumping GDP, and economic hardship for countless millions back home. We should never begrudge the president and his family taking a vacation from time to time. However, this bunch seems to be constantly taking vacations. I wonder if these myriad of European vacation trips help the first lady feel proud of her country?

Michelle Obama: First Time proud of USA

WASHINGTON -- A quiet holiday in a lavish Mediterranean retreat for the first lady and her daughter has turned into a bit of a headache for a White House trying to battle bad economic news at home.

Michelle Obama took her younger daughter, Sasha, to southern Spain this week for a mother-daughter getaway. But when you are married to the president, it has a way of becoming a mother-daughter-Secret-Service getaway that invariably sweeps into town, takes over much of a pricey hotel and leaves the taxpayers with a hefty bill.

The first lady is paying for her own room, food and transportation, and the friends she brought will pay for theirs as well. But the government picks up security costs, and the image of the president's wife enjoying a fancy vacation at a luxury resort abroad while Americans lose their jobs back home struck some as ill-timed. European papers are having a field day tracking her entourage, a New York Daily News columnist called her "a modern-day Marie Antoinette" and the blogosphere has been buzzing.

The White House said it would not comment. "The first lady is on a private trip," Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said this week. "She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I'd leave it at that."

Other officials, asking not to be named because the first family considers it a private matter, said some reports of the trip have been exaggerated. Mrs. Obama is not traveling with 40 friends, one official said, but with two friends and four of their daughters, as well as a couple of aides and a couple of advance staff members.

The officials would not discuss how many security agents are traveling and said that number is determined not by the first lady but by the Secret Service. The staff members are present because the first lady in her official capacity will pay a visit to King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on Sunday before heading home, they said. She flew in a government plane, as all first ladies do when they travel, but her friends took separate commercial flights.

In the meantime, she and Sasha, 9, and their friends have toured Granada and played on the beach while staying at the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, where the rooms run from $500 to $2,000 a night. They took in a flamenco show and danced to the music.

Sasha's sister, Malia, 12, missed the trip while at summer camp, and President Obama celebrated his 49th birthday without his family, over dinner in Chicago with Oprah Winfrey and some personal friends. But the whole family will travel later this month to the Gulf Coast for a few days and then to Martha's Vineyard for 10 days.

Laura Bush took solo vacations without her husband each year of George W. Bush's presidency, likewise traveling with her Secret Service detail on a government plane to meet friends for camping and hiking excursions to national parks. But it never generated the sort of furor Mrs. Obama trip's is causing, at least in part because visiting national parks in the United States is not as politically sensitive.

"It's always very difficult to lead a private life when you're a public person," said Anita McBride, who was Mrs. Bush's chief of staff. "No one would deny any of our hard-working public officials an opportunity for a vacation. Everybody needs that. But I think the more expensive or lavish a trip might be perceived, the more criticism you invite. It's just the risk. It comes with the territory of being a public person."

[Just Win]

The first lady enjoys the jet set transatlantic luxury vacation spotlight in Spain

AS THE US economy endures high unemployment and a jittery stock market, President Barack Obama has preached sacrifice and fiscal discipline. But the pictures coming out of a sun-splashed Spanish resort may be sending a different message.

First lady Michelle Obama is in the midst of a five-day trip to a luxury resort along with a handful of friends, her younger daughter, aides and Secret Service. Her office said the Obamas would pay for personal expenses, but would not reveal the taxpayer cost for the government employees.

Elected officials - Democrats and Republicans - were reluctant to weigh in, not wanting to appear critical of the President's wife. But the trip provided fodder for television news shows, talk-show hosts and bloggers. Critics portrayed the foreign getaway as tone-deaf to the deep economic anxiety back home. Every first family takes vacations: the criticism aimed at Mrs Obama is that she chose to visit a foreign country rather than remain in the US and support its fragile economy.

[Just Win]

 
Sun, fun, and opulence on the beach

Mixed Messages coming out of White House???

As the U.S. economy endures high unemployment and a jittery stock market, President Obama has preached sacrifice and fiscal discipline. But the pictures coming out of a sunsplashed Spanish resort this week may be sending a different message.

First lady Michelle Obama is on a five-day trip to a luxury resort along with a handful of friends, her younger daughter, Sasha, aides and Secret Service personnel. Her office said the first family will pay for personal expenses, but declined to reveal the taxpayer cost for the government employees. The president stayed home in the United States, as did daughter Malia, 12, who is at camp.

The trip provided plenty of fodder for television news shows, talk-show hosts and bloggers.

Critics portrayed the foreign getaway as tone deaf to the economic anxiety back home. Earlier in the week, the first lady was photographed walking through the streets of the Costa del Sol region wearing a one-shouldered Jean Paul Gaultier top.

Every first family takes vacations. The criticism aimed at Michelle Obama is that she chose to visit a foreign country rather than remain in the United States and support its fragile economy.

In July, the first lady flew to the Florida Panhandle, a tourist spot hit hard by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and delivered the message that for parents "looking for things to do with their kids this summer ... this is a wonderful place to visit."

The opulence of the European trip also has drawn scrutiny. Michelle Obama is staying at the Hotel Villa Padierna, a Ritz-Carlton resort in the mountains outside Marbella. The resort has two golf courses, a posh spa with Turkish baths, views of the Mediterranean Sea and a high-end restaurant specializing in avant-garde fare. Room rates start at $400 and rise to $6,500 for a two-bedroom villa with a private pool and 24-hour butler service.

The danger for the Obamas is that the trip may feed perceptions they are out of touch with struggling American families, said Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster.

"This in and of itself doesn't hurt President Obama, but it plants a seed in voters' minds ... that 'they're not like me,' " he said.

While her friends arrived in Spain on their own, Michelle Obama flew in on a type of aircraft also used by Vice President Joseph Biden. It costs the government $11,555 an hour to operate the plane, according to the Air Force. Assuming a nearly eight-hour flight to nearby Málaga, the total round-trip cost of the flight is about $178,000.

The Obama family will reimburse the government an amount equal to two first-class tickets — for mother and daughter Sasha, Air Force officials said. A round-trip first-class flight to Málaga costs about $7,400 apiece, without discounts or restrictions.

Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to former first lady Laura Bush, was not surprised the trip has its critics.

"When you are a public figure, it can be difficult to lead a private life. Despite the fact that much of this trip is paid for personally, the American people know that there are costs borne by the taxpayers and it's to be expected that the more expensive the trip, the greater the risk of criticism," McBride said.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to answer questions about the vacation, saying it is a "private trip."

An unspecified number of Secret Service agents and aides are staying at government expense. Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, declined to say how many agents are with the first lady in Spain.

An Obama administration official said the first lady is accompanied by "a handful of longtime family friends — it's moms and daughters — and it's minimal staff." One aide on the trip is the first lady's deputy chief of staff, Melissa Winter.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the destination was chosen by Michelle Obama and her friends.

On Friday, Spanish police cleared off a 100-yard stretch of beach in Marbella for Michelle Obama and Sasha, 9. As the first lady rested inside a canvas hut by the shore, Sasha splashed around in the sea and a security guard swam with her.

The first lady is to meet with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on Sunday at their summer residence on the island of Mallorca.

After the first lady returns home, she and her family will travel to the Gulf Coast for the weekend of Aug. 14, followed by a 10-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

[Just Win]

Some of the many gardens of the world famous
Villa Padierna in Spain. Many call this Europe's lap
 of luxury in the sun

Hollywood star-studded gala at first lady's 5 star world famous opulent Villa Padierna  hotel...

The First Lady, her youngest daughter Sasha, and their group of friends left the Spanish coast and travelled to Ronda for a day of sightseeing accompanied by their vast security escort in a 13 car motorcade.

The group — which included a number of Mrs Obama's friends – visited some of the town's historic houses and later stopped for lunch at Del Escudero restaurant, set in a 19th century villa with whitewashed walls and red roof tiles located next to the bullring.

Meanwhile at the five-star luxury Villa Padierna, where the group have chosen to spend their mini-break, preparations were under way for Marbella's event of the year – a star-studded charity gala hosted by Hollywood A-listers Antonio Banderas and Eva Longoria.

Expectation was high that the First Lady would be the special guest at the event on Saturday night after she received a personal invitation from Ms Longoria, star of Desperate Housewives, who lent her support to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

More than 400 tickets have been sold for the Starlite Gala at 1000 euros each, according to organisers, and reports suggested that this week another 200 people had applied for tickets and were on a waiting list after learning that Mrs Obama might be present.


Among those clamouring to dine in the same room as the wife of the US President are a host of European celebrities and aristocrats, including Gunilla Gräfin von Bismarck, great-granddaughter of Otto, who has a home in Marbella.

Also in attendance will be tennis player Boris Becker with his wife Lilly Kerssenberg, and bestselling spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, who had all flown in for the fund-raising Starlite gala in aid of children's charities.

One name on the guest list that could raise a few eyebrows among US diplomatic circles is Adnan Khashoggi.

The Saudi Arabian businessman, 75, who made his name as an arms dealer in the 1980s, was linked to the Iran-Contra scandal in which the Reagan administration allegedly sanctioned the sale of weapons to Iran in breach of an international arms embargo.

Another rumoured to be on the guest list is Sir Mark Thatcher, the disgraced son of the former Prime Minister, who has a home in the hills above Marbella.

It could be one of the only opportunities for him to rub shoulders with such American elite as he has been banned from the US following his conviction in South Africa of unknowingly funding an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

If Mrs Obama does chose to attend the event it is unlikely that she will join guests to dance the night away at the after-party organised in Marbella's premier nightclub, the Disco Olivia Valere.

She has an invitation to lunch on Sunday with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at their summer palace on the island of Majorca before flying home to Washington DC

[LTC]

 

[One Man Gang]

I'm starting to suspect that the Jug-eared Kenyan is resigned to being One-and-Done and has decided to Live Large until he and his whole poxy regime get evicted in '13.

[NCVol]

I'm starting to suspect that right wingers are taking a$$holery as it relates to the President and First Lady to a whole new level.  I guess Obama should be like a good aristocrat and own his own damn family resort compound and have the good tast to vacation there and then the right wing might be happy. 

[One Man Gang]

NC, to refer to you as an Obama Sheep is an insult to ungulates.

[NCVol]

As you must know, that hurts, deep.  But the question remains, if Obama just had the good aristocratic sense to have this family resort to send the wife and kids on vacation, would you be happy and lay off poking fun of the Obama kids? 

[One Man Gang]

Put down the "Woolite" and slowly back away.

[Flummoxed Lummox]

I'm starting to suspect that the Jug-eared Kenyan is resigned to being One-and-Done and has decided to Live Large until he and his whole poxy regime get evicted in '13.

If you truly believe that you're a bigger imbecile than I imagined. But then again, you're the same far right nutjob who once referred to Donald Rumsfeld as an "effective leader," so who knows?

[Sasquatch]

The thing that puzzles me is why didn't Queen Michelle and her royal court vacation in the good ole USA? It might have actually helped the area they chose to bless with their presence. It may also have been cheaper than a trans-Atlantic flight for the court and her Majesty's security detail.

Sacrifice is for crackers, ummmm good cracker.....

1977 Andy Griffith Ritz Cracker Commercial