On Tuesday the President made a speech and addressed the economy. He said he knows families are having to cut back and cited “staying home instead of going out for dinner” and “maybe they won’t get to take that vacation they wanted to take.” He said he knows everyone will have to cut back a little because of the economic situation.
Three days later, on Friday, the First Lady and their daughters took a ski vacation in Vail, Colorado. They are staying at The Sebastian, an exclusive resort hotel in downtown Vail and on Saturday evening it’s reported the First Lady had dinner in Restaurant Kelly Liken, an expensive restaurant that is so exclusive you have to get on a waiting list (unless you’re the First Lady, of course.) The President didn’t go on this trip. He was apparently coaching daughter Sasha’s soccer team, even as she was skiing in Vail.
Please don’t misunderstand - I understand being President has its perks and I do not begrudge the President taking time off. Being President is a stressful job even on the best day and Mr. Obama certainly deserves to get away for some R&R now and then. His family also deserves to do things that are fun and get away from life in the fish bowl of the White House now and then. What bothers me about the whole thing is this is not the first time President Obama has spoken publicly about the need for American families to cut back then takes off (he and the family or, in this case just the family) for some exclusive trip somewhere at the taxpayers’ expense and for everyone to see.
The report says Michelle Obama is paying for their incidentals and that’s noteworthy however, how many thousands of dollars did it cost to get them there? How much did the government in Colorado spend on security measures and how much are we spending on Secret Service agents to go skiing with them? And before someone says “The Secret Service would be with them anyway” let me say this: While it’s true the Secret Service would provide protection for the First Family at the White House do you really believe it takes as many agents to protect them in that secure environment as it does to protect them on the open ski slopes at Vail?
My whole point here is that the President is either completely out of touch with the American people, he doesn’t mean the things he says or he simply doesn’t care what the people are going through. It’s a slap in the face to Americans who truly are suffering, cutting back and unable to do the things they want to do when the President talks about how tough things are for everyone and specifically mentions a vacation people won’t be getting, then he and/or his family go on a vacation a few days later. He says he feels the pain, the angst, and understands how the people must be feeling yet his actions say “I feel you but I’m the President and I do what I want regardless of what’s happening to you and your family.”
Maybe I’m making too much of this but it’s not the first time this has happened and I’m fairly sure it won’t be the last. The President could stop family vacations for a little while to show respect for those who can’t take one themselves, or at the very least he could put it off for more than three days after making a speech about families having to cut back on vacations. Is it too much to ask that our President actually show a little empathy for the people instead of just expressing it verbally? Each time Mr. Obama does something like this I’m reminded of Mel Brooks’ movie “History of the World” in which Brooks plays King Louis the XVI and utters his famous and prophetic line “It’s good to be king.”
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