Dance of the Fawning Sycophants..

(Note: I am still sour from working my way through my finances and this mad-on for the FLOTUS has not abated. Herewith is an attempt to dissipate the storm cluds.)

..from the fawning moon-calf FLOTUS-loving site that thinks it's perfectly o.k. for the First Wookie to spend $60-75 large of our tax money every day indulging and immersing herself in la Allegrias de la España. Herewith are a number of comments showing the vapid, witless American Idol mentality that will have to be dealt with come 2012:

(Disclaimer: emphasis added and vomit bags may be necessary.)

..The blouse is in poor taste and so is a lavish trip to Spain while our nation is in economic turmoil.

Our fashion-plate FLOTUS; ain't she a stunner?

Why didn't Michelle and Sasha visit the Gulf Coast as the first lady urged everyone else? A visit there by members of the Obama family would certainly have been a good investment in t he economic recovery of the area.
August 6, 2010 | Betty

Fair point made by Betty. I'd buy her a Guinness if I bumped into her in a bar. But, Betty's point is challenged by a LoMO:

Betty, the blouse is just fine, and befits the beautiful woman wearing it.

How would not taking a 4 day mother-and-daughter trip to Spain assist the U.S. in dealing better with "economic turmoil", might I ask?

The First Lady cannot just indulge in a spot of camping; stay in a caravan in some remote field with her loved ones; or on the spur-of-the-moment, choose to bed down in a no-frills, Bed & Breakfast, no matter how much those ideas might take her fancy. A high level of security, and, staying in secure buildings with personnel who are experienced in accommodating high profile people that some might wish to harm, come with the territory. That will tend to be the case whether she is at home or abroad. Please stop pretending that you don't know this.

Michelle, as a mother is as entitled as any other mother to decide along with her daughter where they would like to go for 4 days. If the decision is to venture overseas, then so be it. I understand that the President and his family will be visiting the Gulf coast later on this month, so never you fret.

In the meantime, I hope that you and yours have been doing your bit to help promote "good investment" in the area by sojourning there as frequently as time/money, allows.
August 6, 2010 | Dee

Dee clearly is a few feathers short of a full pillow. So long as the POTUS and FLOTUS take yet another vacation and visit the Gulf, then this insensitive display of excess -- on our dime -- is perfectly o.k. Fortunately, someone comes to Betty's aid, sort of:

@betty I totally agree with you.

The trip is a bit too Lavish with the serious financial situation the US is in.
Yes she has her graduate degree and should travel like this because she has worked hard but just not right now.

As a black woman I am really proud to see a beautiful black family in the White house but the US is in serious trouble and she is not helping matters by flaunting her good fortune at this point in time. I am really happy she is exposing Sasha to the world as well I want Sasha to be well travelled [sic] and not be limited in her life.

But I feel they could have saved this trip for another time when things have gotten better. They know we are all watching them. I am not saying she should just vacation in Chicago but the hotel is really expensive and she is really spending alot [sic] of money (even though some of it may be her own)

people are still losing thier [sic] jobs, houses, and cars.

"Michelle", you and Barack are being watched and judged even more. Please make wise decisons.
August 6, 2010 | Travelgirl

..don't get what having an advanced degree has to do with anything, but what do you want to bet TravelGal's advice is not heeded? Also, maybe Sasha should be visiting places in America where people are out of work and indigent because of her dad's incompetence? Naw, I should let that one alone. Kids are off limits.

We continue with a somewhat less stinging rebuke of airhead Dee's comments:

Dee,

By traveling to the Gulf Coast, the first lady would set an example to patronize American tourism thus promoting our flagging economy. How do you NOT understand this?

You may not be old enough to remember, but Lyndon Johson's daughter, while he was in office, took a road trip across the United States promoting what was called "See America First" and giving a boost to American businesses.

Yes, she is free as any American mother to travel with her daughter where she chooses; I just don't think she is choosing very wisely.
August 6, 2010 | Betty

..a little historical perspective for Dee to chew on. Let's see what she bounces back with:

Travelgirl - I'm Black, too, love seeing "a beautiful Black family in the White house" .... and also couldn't agree less with you - I'm curious; have you restricted your own travels to only those times when all is sweetness and light in the U.S./World, in general?

There is always "something going on"! If we restricted our own personal good times, only to those times when we didn't have "serious financial situations" on-going at home or elsewhere, and when there were no crises of one stripe or another breaking out all over, just what do you think would happen to the tourism industries (for example)...through which so many national economies earn valuable money, and upon which so many individuals are reliant for their incomes and livelihoods?

If we judged our own behaviour [sic] against the criterion you're applying to the First Lady's family, just who woud [sic] be the ultimate arbiter of when "things have gotten better" sufficiently for us to get out there, and enjoy our overseas/domestic trips without fear of incurring the wrath/resentment of those individuals, not yet blessed to be able to afford to travel? What about those people for whom travelling "just not right now" in fact means "not travelling [sic] ever", because their financial circumstances have never/will never permit that?

The First Lady isn't "flaunting" anything, and who is anyone to determine when/how/whether she should spend her own money?

Not spending money is hardly going to help an ailing economy is it...?! How does not spending money help those who are still losing their jobs/houses/cars?

I've lost a job before in a previous economic downturn here in the U.K. and not for one single, solitary minute did it occur to me that just because I wasn't "rolling in it" that those with better financial means than my own at the time, shouldn't fully enjoy them!

May the President, and First Lady, with all of the huge pressures upon them continue to be wise enough in their decision making to recognise when it's time to relax, and have a restful break, so that they can continue to keep mind, body and spirit, whole, peace-filled, aligned, and completely together!!
August 6, 2010 | Dee

..o.k., I'll wait until you are done hurling in the barf bag. There, feel better? I thought not.

Anyway, nice to see old Dee is good at playing the race card. Maybe she ought to try this one on for size and see if it fits: "I would prefer to see a competent WHITE man and a beautiful WHITE family in the WHITE House, Dee." Kinda stings, don't it, Dee?

Also, who determines whether it's the appropriate time to "get out of there" would be dictated by sensitivity, decency, and common sense, all of which MOo Obama (and her husband) are sadly lacking.

They go back and forth a couple of more times and Airhead Dee just doesn't get it. It's at this point I lose patience and chime in:

Dee, old girl:

There is something seriously wrong with your "understanding" when you emit garbage such as this:

Michelle, as a mother is as entitled as any other mother to decide along with her daughter where they would like to go for 4 days. If the decision is to venture overseas, then so be it. I understand that the President and his family will be visiting the Gulf coast later on this month, so never you fret.

What Betty tried to point out -- and you cluelessly disregarded -- was the insensitivity of the whole affair. This imperious FLOTUS may, in fact, be entitled to vacation with her offspring anywhere she chooses; it's a wonderful country like that. But to do something like this while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet is absolutely galling.

By the way, it is conceded that she requires security and safekeeping as FLOTUS, but by arranging the trumped up visit and luncheon with Spanish political dignitaries thereby making it a state visit, her sorry-assed husband stuck we taxpayers with the majority of the bill for Air force One and the attendant arrangements.

So not only is her sashaying around Marbella in her number nines (and that horrid outfit) offensive, but her fifty-room-luxury accommodations and clearing of the beach patently obscene.

..I'll bet you were just apoplectic over the many,many vacations that Laura and George took to their ranch in Crawford. Frankly, after watching this sorry sack of a First Lady cavort around Maine, Marbella, and other exotic locations, many out there long for the quiet dignity of that understated and inoffensive first lady.

..but, never you fret, old girl.
August 7, 2010 | The War Planner

..too bad I was a day late and a dollar short on this thread. I woulda loved to jump Dee's bones real time.

Oh well, I needed a reason to drink tonight anyway.

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