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First Family’s Lavish Trips a Slap in the Face

By June 19, 2013Blog
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It’s called “economizing,” Mr. and Mrs. Obama. Let’s all try it. (After you get back from your lavish $3,300-a-night stay in Dublin, of course.)

As her husband mingles with political leaders from the world’s wealthiest countries at the annual G-8 Summit, first lady Michelle Obama is living like a queen, enjoying an all-expense-paid vacation in Dublin, Ireland, courtesy of you, the hard-working taxpayer. And as the number one political concern among Americans remains focused on the growing $16 trillion debt, taxpayers are outraged by the price tags resulting from the first family’s atrocious spending habits. The White House is justifying Mrs. Obama’s posh Irish trip as diplomatically necessary. However, the first lady’s official itinerary, reported by the Irish Times, includes zero ambassadorial events. Instead, Mrs. Obama and her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, are slated to visit the Trinity University Library to peruse their Irish family lineage, attend a performance of Dublin’s famous Riverdance Troupe, and stroll the Wicklow Mountains National Forest.

The real question is, don’t Americans already pay the State Department millions to take care of our foreign affairs? It’s a superfluous waste — and downright dishonest — to justify the cost of Mrs. Obama’s Dublin get-away as necessary for the stability of American-Irish relations. Oh, but wait. Perhaps State Dept. officials are tied up for the moment due to that nasty sex-trafficking scandal. Sure, that’s it.

As previously stated, Mrs. Obama is reportedly staying in a $3,300-a-night Dublin Hotel suite. She has reserved no less than 30 rooms for her entourage.  But this is chump change, really.  Next month brings with it a full flung African excursion that will be among the priciest first family trips in U.S. history with costs estimated between $60 and 100 million. The trip is labeled as a “Good Will” tour, but it’s interesting to note the itinerary included a family fun day on a Tanzanian safari. I fail to see the diplomatic implications of a safari day, and apparently so did the Washington Post and other major outlets who questioned both the purpose and enormous costs for security detail (animal snipers, et al).

As a result of intense scrutiny from both sides of the political aisle, the White House put its proverbial tail between its legs and cancelled the outdoor excursion. And lest we forget, these two trips follow on the heels the Obama’s 2012-2013 Hawaiian Christmas vacation, which cost taxpayers $7 million dollars. Political partisanship, dear reader, should not cause you to dismiss the Obama’s vacation expenses. The fact is that our currently dismal economic climate — exacerbated by the Obama Administration — prevents most American families from taking a single vacation this year, let alone multiple trips.  

Democrats, Republicans, liberal whack jobs, and conservative purists alike should be reeling over the wasteful spending habits of our president.  After all, the rest of America has learned how to budget, especially as a record-breaking 47.8 million Americans are on food stamps, the cost of living continues to soar, and millions of Americans are out of work.

Maybe it’s time the first family try a “stay-cation” — or a “no-cation” — for once.