The Obamas reportedly paid own vacation expenses except security

NY Times: The first lady will pay "for her own room, food and transportation." The New York Times reported that Michelle Obama and her friends paid their own vacation costs. Additionally, the Tribune reported that Michelle Obama's family friends "arrived in Spain on their own" and that because Michelle Obama and her daughter flew on an Air Force jet, "[t]he Obama family will reimburse the government an amount equal to two first-class tickets." The government will pick up the tab for the Obamas' security, but it is the Secret Service -- not Michelle Obama -- that decides the amount of security needed. From the August 6 New York Times article:

Privately, officials note that the first lady is paying for her own room, food and transportation, and the friends she brought will pay for theirs as well. The government pays for security, and the Secret Service, not the first lady, determines what is needed.

NY Times: Michelle Obama "is not traveling with 40 friends." From the same New York Timesarticle:

Officials said some reports of the trip had been exaggerated. Mrs. Obama is not traveling with 40 friends, one official said, but with two friends and four of their daughters, as well as a couple of aides and a couple of advance staff members. The staff is with her because she will pay a courtesy call on King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía on the island of Majorca on Sunday before flying home to Washington.

Perino: Michelle Obama "pays her own way" and "I don't think any of us should grudge her security." On the August 9 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Dana Perino pushed back against co-host Brian Kilmeade's comment that Michelle Obama's Spain vacation was "way over the line," saying:

PERINO: Well, a couple of things. I think a lot of people were frustrated by reports that said that the American taxpayer were paying for 40 rooms at this exclusive resort. That's not true. I mean, she pays for her own way, her friends pay their own way, and we pay for the security. But I don't think any of us should begrudge her security, and I just think that it was a little bit off-limits.

I looked at Maureen Dowd's column yesterday and I thought it must be hard to be that angry all the time about everything. And I think the first lady in many ways should just be a little bit off-limits, especially if she's paying her own way.

Ruth Marcus: If Spain trip were cancelled, "not one more American would have a job, not one-hundredth of a decimal point would be added to the gross domestic product." In an August 6 post to The Washington Post's Post Partisan blog, columnist Ruth Marcus wrote:

But I also don't begrudge Michelle Obama the trip, and I'd just as soon not have my First Family vacations determined by focus groups. I'm a big fan of mother-daughter -- or father-daughter, for that matter -- trips. I'm a big fan of foreign travel. School's out. It can't be that the only acceptable activity in stressful economic times is a First Family stay-cation. Stick around the White House and straighten the closets, maybe repaint a bedroom?

If Michelle and Sasha had hung out at home, not one more American would have a job, not one-hundredth of a decimal point would be added to the gross domestic product. Yes, her travel required a government plane and Secret Service resources, but that would be true wherever she went. It was true when George W. Bush made 77 visits to his ranch in Crawford and spent all or part of 490 days there during his presidency, according to CBS News' Mark Knoller, official tallier of presidential downtime.

Lynn Sweet: Michelle Obama went to Spain to console "one of her closest friends ... who just lost her father." In her August 9 Chicago Sun-Times column, Lynn Sweet wrote: "I'm told she [Michelle Obama] 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." From the column:

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 trip involved six White House advance staffers and two East Wing staffers, deputy Chief of Staff Melissa Winter and Mrs. Obama's personal assistant, Kristen Jarvis, according to Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman Catherine McCormick Lelyveld.

Mrs. Obama does travel with significant security -- and in a trip like this, three shifts of uniformed and plain-clothes agents and military personnel flew with her on a big Air Force 757. No matter where she goes -- domestic or international -- any first lady gets protection and she does not decide how many agents are needed.

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.

The difference is the abuse and cost to the taxpayer, especially when they are out there screaming fair this and fair that. Unheard of for a 1st lady to simply take a vacation, overseas, without any reason (ie. help the hungry, AIDS, etc.).

This comes under the spotlight as it was not under any mission other than personal enjoyment. And we paid for it at a time we can least afford to do so.

And it was simply Secret Service costs:

Secret Service (including their expenses): $255,000.00

Flight Costs: $199,000.00

Motel for flight crew: $10,000.00

This was a private trip, not official US business and therefore, the Obama's need to reimburse the taxpayer for this getaway.

This is not a perk that other administrations have taken.

It doesn't matter that he is arab, black, martian, most certainly protection is utmost regardless, but this is a won the lottery and screw you taxpayer, I am queen.

Sorry, reach into your pocket Obama and pay your own way.

Apr 28, 2012 -- 1:07PM, GottaGoToMo wrote:

I find it ridiculous that the Obamas get attacked on situations like this ... what is being paid for by the Government is the security ... and every President and their family has been afforded Security details during trips ... this is our first  African-American First Family ... the Security has to be even tighter ... the Obamas didn't sign up to stop living their lives just because President Obama won election.

All Presidents before President Obama and the next President, President Willard Romney and his family will get the same perks come January 2012.

Well then, maybe Shrub will dip into his pocket and reimburse us the 124 million in transportation costs he incurred going to Crawford.

Apr 28, 2012 -- 1:26PM, GottaGoToMo wrote:

 

All Presidents before President Obama and the next President, President Willard Romney and his family will get the same perks come January 2012.

When Romney was govenor of Massachusetts he was driven around in an old Ford Crown Vic unmarked state police cruiser.  The next governor, Deval Patrick (a Chicago friend of 0bama, and client of Alefrod) found the old Ford Crown Vic not to his standards and he leased, at tax payer expense, a very expensive Cadilac.  Gov Patrick also redecorated the Governor's Office at significant tax payer expense.