Spin Control
Michelle Obama's Spanish vacation is evidently polling badly, so the administration decided to spin her visit by slipping the "inside story" of the vacation to a friendly journalist:
Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha returned from Spain on Sunday, a vacation at a lavish hotel on the Mediterranean coast that triggered her first controversy since becoming first lady. I'm told she made the trip because she promised one of her closest friends, a longtime Chicago pal who just lost her father, she would spend time with her. ...
A ritzy vacation in Spain while the U.S. faces tough economic times was off-message -- as was highlighting the beaches in Spain after urging Americans to head to Florida's Gulf Coast to help out the tourism industry impacted by the BP oil spill. ...
But the reason Mrs. Obama made the trip -- and other facts, not rumors about the travel -- are important in knowing the whole story and understanding why she made the call to go.
First, some numbers. Mrs. Obama did not travel with 40 friends, a number used by some news outlets. She vacationed with two women, one of them a longtime Chicago pal, Anita Blanchard, who is the obstetrician who delivered Sasha and Malia. Blanchard is married to Marty Nesbitt -- President Obama's buddy and the treasurer of Obama's presidential campaign fund.
There was one other woman. Total: four daughters among the three women. They paid for their hotel rooms and other personal and travel expenses.
The hotel where Obama stayed in Marbella told the press that the Obamas reserved 60 rooms "for themselves, their friends and their extensive Secret Service detail." No doubt most of those were for the Secret Service; if so, you paid for them, not the Obamas. But here is the point of the White House's story:
So why did Mrs. Obama go to Spain at this time? She's not tone-deaf politically. What was behind the "mother-daughter" vacation?
A White House source told me that Blanchard's father passed away and Mrs. Obama was not able to make the funeral at the beginning of July. Blanchard had promised her daughter she would take her to Spain for her birthday. She asked Mrs. Obama and Sasha to come with. (Malia is at overnight camp.)
"She felt it was important as a dear friend to do this," I was told.
Sure, it makes perfect sense! I couldn't make the funeral, but hey--count me in for the Spanish vacation! Really, it was a humanitarian mission. And that explains why they needed the private beach--so they could mourn without being disturbed by tourists:
I'm really not interested in being hard on Michelle Obama, but there are two lessons that can be drawn from this episode. First, the vaunted Obama political machine that swept to victory in 2008 was vastly overrated. Now that it is entrusted with the mundane business of governing, the Obama machine is frequently stammering and wrong-footed.
Second, Obama's calls for sacrifice are much like those of Al Gore. It would be easier to take them seriously if Obama himself showed any inclination to set an example.
There is a difference, though. Whereas there is no global climate crisis, there really is a federal fiscal crisis. Next year, President Obama will ask you to make a sacrifice to address the fiscal crisis--he is going to raise your taxes. When that happens, bear in mind that he himself has not been willing to make even a token, symbolic gesture in the direction of economy.
- Comment (15)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
May '10
Re: Spin Control
Can we ban "to come with," please?
May '10
Re: Spin Control
The moment they try to start "explaining" her trip is when every pissed off American says, "whatever". It's like the cheating spouse spinning his/her tale once caught. We know what it is.
Jul '10
Re: Spin Control
I thought it was very classy how she used King Juan Carlos and the Queen as props to legitimize her lavish expenditure. The Royal couple looked distinctly underwhelmed in the official photo's.
On the whole, I bet they'd rather have spent time with Beyonce.
May '10
Re: Spin Control
Could this vacation be the tipping point for the Obamas?
May '10
Re: Spin Control
The Obama mindset was revealed that very first week in office: After the campaign rhetoric of "Americans can't keep their homes at 72 degrees, blah, blah...," it was discovered that Obama's own thermostat was set "hot enough to grow orchids." Yet there wasn't even the slightest sense of being "busted" coming from the White House.
In these folks' minds, the double standard is a given, a duh-of-course fact of life. No excuses (or shame) required.
May '10
Re: Spin Control
Not to mention that the President flew to Chicago to have dinner with friends for the night on his birthday. Again, nothing to begrudge but I remember thinking, "I wonder if he understands how privileged that makes him, to be able to do such a thing?"
Jun '10
Re: Spin Control
I think the tipping point occurred awhile ago, but I'm not sure exactly where or when. The next election will be the confirmation. I can offer some perspective from my perch in Santa Fe. The Republicans are making a run at Ben Ray Lujan's (D) seat in New Mexico 3. The district is so liberal that rumors the congressman is gay probably helped him in the last election. This seat is as safe as it gets for Democrats, but the Republicans feel they have a shot. If this is a nationwide trend, we'll see a tsunami come November.
Aug '10
Re: Spin Control
This could indeed be the "tipping point" for Obama and the Left. Economic illiteracy and hypocrisy have been fatal in every Statist/Progressive regime from the beginning. Karl Marx was a hard-drinking parasite, sucking on the very "bourgeoisie" he condemned.
While we're on the subject of kings and queens, and to illustrate the malignancy of our new D.C. royal family, consider this stunning historical comparison:
King Charles II of England, at the height of his popularity in 1663, responded to reports of his lavish spending by informing the public that the public's money "...'will do me very little good if I do not improve it by very good husbandry of my own, and by retrenching those very expenses which... may be thought necessary enough. But you shall see, I will much rather impose upon myself than my subjects".
Following this an audit was performed on his domestic accounts by the Exchequer. His court's expenses were severely cut; household servants were reduced from over 500 to 220.
How about forcing us to purchase health insurance? Unlike Obama and his Congress, King George III never imagined he could force his American Colonists to purchase any British goods.
May '10
Re: Spin Control
It did serve to give us another killer phrase that will be enduring. Palin's "Death Panel" description of ObamaCare was the perfect description of the finer points of that abomination. Marie Antionette is likewise a perfect illustration of the elitist mentality that is pouring salt into a wound rubbed raw.
Re: Spin Control
I love this analogy, Andrea! It's PERFECT for this situation.
Re: Spin Control
P.S. Welcome, John!
Jul '10
Re: Spin Control
I don't know about a tipping point. After all, when did a Chicago politician loose an election? In addition to the usual fixers, Obama has the media on his side so normal rules don't apply. America is a mean country and Barack and Mitchell are only getting what they think is owed to them by the rubes.
Aug '10
Re: Spin Control
I can't really find it in my heart to begrudge them their lavish entertainments. The more time they spend entertaining, the less time they have to monkey with policy. And which is really more costly, entertainment expenses or bad policy?
Besides, the very fact that they don't live by their professed ideals of green living and austerity makes it harder for anyone to take those ideals seriously.
I have a cousin, the only self-identified "green" in the family, always brimful of advice on ways to be more green or save money. But he lives mostly alone (he is divorced) in a huge house with cathedral ceilings (energy-inefficient), and he's the only one of us with a hot-tub, outdoors, in a northern climate, that besides using a lot of energy to heat, needs constant dosing with corrosive chemicals to stay sanitary. I'd estimate that despite his obsessions, the rest of the family leads a "greener" life than his without even trying. So, we don't take his "green advice" seriously. This irritates him because he doesn't get it -- he's very proud of his green efforts.
The rest of us get it, though.
Jun '10
Re: Spin Control
How do you spin a jetsetting luxury vacation in Spain (with one small obligatory visitation and meal with the very boring Catholic King and Queen, real squares, dullsville!) when you're the First Lady, the one and only Michelle Obama, and the country your husband pretends to govern is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket? Why, let's conjure up a sad little story, and throw in a funeral for good measure, some time to commiserate and heal, because that's what friends do. Who's buying this [expletive]?
Edited on Aug 11, 2010 at 10:02pmRe: Spin Control
Um, James, many thanks for your spirited comment. And of course you're right on the mark.
Here on Ricochet, though, we have a dress code for comments. And that final word you used -- though totally understandably -- is not Up To Code, as contractors say. It may seem restrictive or prudish, but we decided to be firm about that kind of stuff in order to keep all of the conversations here civil and fun. It's hard for me -- I curse like a sailor -- and for a couple of the others, but it's sort of like the Broken Window Theory: if we keep a lid on small stuff like that, it'll keep everyone having a good time.
That said: right on. The sad little story did seem like a crock of.....well, you know.