Monday, February 20, 2012

Moochelle a Go Go!! 

It's been one long grueling month since her 17 day vacation to Hawaii. ($4million).  exhausted from this lengthy stint of doing whatever it is she does, Moochelle Obama gathered up the kids, ordered up an Air Force jet and headed to ....Aspen.  That's right folks, Aspen. Moochelle and the kiddies are hunkered down at a billionaires mansion in the toney resort town.  Rest assured this is a "good" billionaire as opposed to those nasty Republican billionaires. (Are there any left?)

Here's a nifty little chart from the UK Daily Mail:
(Ed Note: Why do we learn of this from the foreign press?)
 
LUXURY TRAVEL: THE COSTLY TRIPS:

SPAIN: AUGUST 2010.

Michelle Obama and 40 of her friends paid for personal expenses, such as hotels and meals themselves.
But the U.S. taxpayer would have paid for the 68-strong security detail, personal staff and use of presidential jet Air Force Two.
Payment for the secret service team ran at around $281 each - nearly $98,000 for the duration of the summer break.
Use of Air Force Two comes in at $149,900 for the round trip, not including time on the ground.
Mrs Obama's personal staff, of which there were an unknown number, should also be taken into account.
HAWAII: DECEMBER 2010.

According to the Hawaii Reporter the costs were:
$63,000 on an early flight bringing Mrs Obama and the children to Hawaii ahead of the President.
$1,000,000 on Mr Obama’s return trip from Washington on Air Force One.
$16,000 to rent nearby homes for Secret Service and Navy Seals.
$134,000 for 24 White House staff to stay at the Moana Hotel.
$251,000 in police overtime.
$10,000 for an ambulance to be on hand at all times.
SKI TRIP TO VAIL: FEBRUARY 2011.
Michelle Obama and her daughters stayed at the Sebastian hotel on Vail Mountain, where rooms cost more than $2,400 for multi-bedroom suites.
The family appear to have flown there on Air Force Two.
They were escorted to the resort by about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers.
MARTHA'S VINEYARD: AUGUST 2011.
The Blue Heron Farm estate, where the Obama family stayed, rents for about $50,000 a week.
Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama flew to the estate just hours before the president to make the most of the holiday - again, incurring extra flight costs.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the Coast Guard was required to keep ships floating near the property. The presidential helicopter and jet remain at the ready and security agents will be on 24-hour duty.
HAWAII: DECEMBER 2011.
According to the Hawaii Reporter the costs were:
$63,000 on an early flight bringing Mrs Obama and the children to Hawaii ahead of the President but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000.
$3,271,622 on Mr Obama’s return trip from Washington on Air Force One.
$151,200 to rent nearby homes for Secret Service and Navy Seals.
$72,216 for 24 White House staff to stay at the Moana Hotel.


 Prolly just doing research on those 1%.  Oh. The. Sacrifice.


Victor Davis Hanson remarks on the vacationing proclivities of the First Moocher:


All that is water under the bridge. But her latest getaway to the Aspen ski resorts to stay with a billionaire ski developer, while perfectly ethical, is the proverbial camel’s straw that breaks the back of her populism — and the notion that the Obamas can make any ethical argument about the “them vs. us” divide. She sees no connection at all between presidential rhetoric and actual deed, even symbolically so — as gas goes over $4 a gallon in the west and the administration gears up for a class-warfare campaign that is making the argument that the privileged have amassed their wealth unfairly and are out of touch. The public is then confused about whether she goes to Aspen to see firsthand what the 1 percent have done with their ill-gotten gains, or to enjoy what they have, or to offer exemptions in exchange for generous campaign donations. (How does one go from being a demonized Halliburton or Koch to an enlightened Solyndra or Buffett other than professing by fealty?)

So as you grapple with your mortgage, kid costs, $4-5 dollar a gallon gas, summer vacation cancelled, car repairs etc....take heart, Moochelle will be rested and ready for her next vacation right after she is through Occupying Aspen. You can have fun predicting which exotic playground she will head to next!