As I was checking Drudge the other day I saw another headline about how much it cost for Michelle Obama to go on one of her trips. I am getting tired of this cheap shot reporting and refusal to show why this is an issue.
Don’t get me wrong. I am no fan of either Obama. I find them arrogant elitists who consider themselves better than us common folk. They are social snobs who think the rules are different for them. They are socialists who would love to set up a ruling aristocracy with themselves at the helm. Maybe later I will tell you how I really feel.
But how about focusing on the real issues.
Michelle Obama is the first lady of the United States. Even if she were humble and thrifty, she is still the wife of the leader of the most powerful country in the world. When she travels she represents us, even when she is on “vacation.”
Compare apples to apples, not oranges. We have numbers for how much it cost for her and her friends to travel to Africa. Let’s assume for the moment that the numbers are an accurate reflection of the actual cost. I have yet to see a comparison to the cost of other first ladies when they traveled. I really don’t expect the president’s wife and children to fly coach on the red-eye special. That may be the way I fly but I don’t have the world watching me. Are the numbers just big or are they out of line? Am I showing what a rube I am by letting my mouth hang open and saying, “Well, gaul-ly.”
Also, how much of this cost is required by law and custom? When heads of state travel there are certain requirements in terms of communications and personal safety. The first lady is not the head of state but she is in that bubble of leadership. It costs a lot of money to have an airplane escorted by fighter jets and that might be required. It is not her fault that it is necessary.
She needs to be protected. She would be a natural target for crazies and terrorists. Yes, I know I am being redundant. She would be harassed by the paparazzi and every fan of her husband’s Hope and Change.
Her children were listed as “senior advisors.” Considering the quality of advisors, czars and cabinet members that these people have, I am not sure that is inaccurate. In addition to that, these are bureaucrats. They do everything by filling out forms. It is entirely possible that when they boarded the airplane they had to fill out a form and the closest thing on the form to check was “senior advisor.” It probably did not have a category of “adorable, wonderful children.” She has the right to take her children. Who wouldn’t? And in spite of my unceasing criticism of every other idea and behavior the Obama’s demonstrate, the one area that I have appreciated from the beginning is that they seem to be good parents and a solid family.
It is possible that the high cost is a real issue but I don’t know that from the reporting. We conservatives complain about the bias of the media. It exists but that is only part of the problem. There is also the sloppy, inaccurate reporting that comes from sloth. We should not give them a pass just because we can chuckle with glee when they nail snobs to the wall. We are better than that, or we should be.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.