Just like honey, you’re just like poison. Michelle Obama is a beautiful, stylish woman as well as being intelligent and politically aware. You are not and you’re also a hate-filled racist and probably old and plug ugly to boot. You’re also a conservative who just can’t help making excuses for that despicable, unhinged bastard, Bill O’Reilly, which means you’re intellectually challenged and therefore to be pitied.

Anybody ever consider that GWB took MORE vacation time than any other President?  Who do you think paid for THAT?  Who gets 3-4 months vacation a year?

But that’s what GWB took.  Obama seems to take a day here and two days there, never more.  GWB was the laziest President since Ronald Reagan, who was the laziest President since Warren G. Harding, who was the laziest President since….Ulysses S. Grant?

I am very disappointed with the First Lady.  She has no sense of what is appropriate to wear as far as fashion goes.  The media wants to hold her up as the new Jackie O, but the truth is she has no sense of true style.  To make matters worse she is too conceited to take advice from the top people in the fashion business who would gladly work for her for FREE.  Another thing that bothers me is her weight.  MO wants to lecture us about what to eat, but she has a HUGE butt.  Is one to assume that she got this butt from eating vegetables?  MO could eat Jackie O for lunch, and then some.  I know this may sound cruel, but Michelle should lead by her actions, not her words. 

Also, regarding the lavish Spanish trip, I don’t see a lot of right-wing media people like CIA Bill O’Reillly raising a stink.  My point is, there are numerous media outlets that flat out refuse to cover this story.  Why this woman gets a free pass is beyond me.  We should expect more from our leaders.  We should expect our First Lady to dress and behave in a dignified way that shows respect to the Office of President and respect to the American people that she represents.  Again, VERY disappointed.

A couple of commenters are stating Michelle is using her “dime”. What are your
sources for this info?

They’re doing it *entirely* on their dime to the extent they’re able.  I mean she can’t leave Air Force 2 home and fly coach for Pete’s sake.

And the Obamas are visiting the Gulf this week on a trip planned long before this little brouhaha.  But don’t let facts stop all the piety & outrage, I’m enjoying it.

I don’t begrudge them a vacation, but that’s not what this was—it was an excursion funded by taxpayer dollars. Why not take a vacation to the Gulf? They need the dollars badly and the message of hope to Americans would have been inestimable. If you want to be a private citizen, don’t run for public office. If you want a luxury vacation do it on your own dime.

typical ad hom attack from someone

who always tries to defend acts that can’t hold water…

I thought you were the one on drugs a few weeks

ago when you said American hegemony didn’t start in

Latin America until 1959…..

Ofersince72 are you on speed or ecstasy or have you swallowed twenty four packets of cold tablets? You’re not making any sense but don’t feel bad, 90% of the other posts are just as idiotic as yours. The good thing about being whacked off your face is that as long as it lasts you can feel like a genius. Alas, the morning after always comes.

AND MICHAEL OBAMA ,  YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTERS

TELL THE PRESIDENT TO QUIT STEALING POOR PEOPLES STUFF

AND GIVING IT TO THE INTERNATIONAL INVERSTOR FRIENDS

OF HIS FROM THE IVY SCHOOLS AND THE EUROPEAN

COUNTERPARTS AND THE ASIAN COUNTERPARTS

My gawd will Truthdig please remove this ofersince creep.

AND YOU JOURNALIST RUTH MARCUS

YOUR NEWSPAPER STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN AND YOUR PAPER

IS GOING REST ON ITS LAURALS THAT IT PUT OUT ITS

LITTLE SECRET SEVICES STORY.  WOOPEE, WOOPEE ANE

WHOOPIE   AGAIN.   

YOU WOULDN’T KNOW JOURNALISM IF IT SMACKED YOU RIGHT
SQAURE IN THE FACE.

Michelle Obama is becoming, if not already, a prima donna.  As for the so called vacation she did pay for her own personal expenses; however, the cost of travel, security, etc is borne by the tax payers——but is was only $6 million.  Far more important is that Michelle Obama has the largest staff of any FLOTUS before her——-the trappings of power.  Oh, by the way, Obama will be re-elected for a second term——there is a quite a large silent majority out there that is happy with the administration.

BUT THE VERY BEST THING YOU COULD DO WITH YOUR

DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA,  IS TAKE THEM TO IRAN

AND STAY THERE AS A HUMAN SHIELD UNTIL YOUR

HUSBAND MAKES PEACE AND QUITS LIEING ABOUT WMDs AND

DEFUNDS ALL OF   ISRAEL’S   WEAPONS PROGRAMS AND

TAKES THEIR NUKES AWAY TO MAKE THE WORLD AND

THE MIDDLE EAST A PEACEFUL HARMONIOUS UNIVERSE.

Why would anyone want to be president?  Damned if you do - damed if you don’t.  Critics bitchin’ about MICHELLE’s vacation choices are just so pitiful to me.  Get a life!  Whay shouldn’t they do whatever the hell they want to?

If you are truly concerned with the “symbolism” or the money spent, then get after the Pentagon that we all support and are supposed to own.  How many trillions have they lost and left unaccounted for?  Just what part was destroyed in 2001?  Records department.  How frickin’ convenient was that.  Familiarize yourself with what a decoy is.  Keep watching the surface and you have no idea what is going on below.  It’s really time to drain the whole cesspool.

Crying over spilt milk when the whole cow has been sold out from under you is quite ridiculous. Silly humans.

OR THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA,

READ TO THEM ALL OF THEIR FATHERS CAMPAIGN

SPEECHES SO THEY CAN GROW UP AND BE   A

POLITICIAN JUST LIKE DAD.

OR THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA

TOUR THE PRISON SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES.

SO WILL UNDERSTAND JUST HOW FAR WE HAVE COME

WITH INSTITUTIONAL RACISM.

OR THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA

TAKE THEM TO THE GETTOS OF   CHICAGO ILLINOIS

AND   LIVE LIKE THEY DO FOR A YEAR SO THEY

WILL UNDERSTAND HOW THE DRUG CULTURE IS SUPPORTED

BY   THE BILLIONAIRES ON   MADISON AVENUE AND

WALL STREET.

OR THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA

TAKE THEM TO ONE OF THE HUGE AGRO-INDUSTRY

FARMS IN THE MID-WEST STARTING RIGHT AT SPRING

TIME AND STAY ALL THE WAY THROUGH HARVEST TO

WATCH COTTON OR RICE,  ESPECIALLY RICE,  AND HOW

MUCH PETRO-CHEMICALS IT TAKES TO HARVEST A CROP

SO YOUR DAUGHTERS WILL UNDERSTAND WHY DAD TAKES

SO MUCH MONEY FROM THESE COMPANIES.

OR THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA

TAKE THEM AND LIVE AT ONE OF OUR GREAT

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN RESERVATIONS FOR SIX MONTHS,

WITHOUT ANY   COMMUNICATION OR RESOURCES FROM

THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

OR   THIS   WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS MICHAEL OBAMA

LET THEM IN ON   THE   NEGOTIATIONS THAT ARE

GOING ON WITH VIETNAM TO GIVE THEM THE

TECHNOLOGY OF URANIUM ENRICHMENT….........

THEY COULD LEARN TO BE AS DUPLISTIC AS THEIR DAD!!!

OR YOU COULD DO THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS

MICHAEL OBAMA

  TAKE THEM TO GAZA AND LIVE FOR   SIX MONTHS

WITHOUT THE SECRET SERVICE TO PROTECT YOU   ,,,,

AND LIVE AND WORK ALONG SIDE THOSE LUCKY KIDS

OR YOU COULD DO THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS
MICHAEL OBAMA

TEACH THEM DIPLOMACY BY

TAKING THEM UP IN AIR FORCE ONE OR TWO   LIKE YOUR

HUSBAND DID WITH DENNIS KUCINACH

OR YOU COULD DO THIS WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS

MICHAEL OBAMA

TEACH THEM   VIDEO GAMES BY GOING TO THAT TOP SECRET
PLACE OUT WEST AND PUSH THE BUTTONS ON THOSE REALLLY
COOL DRONES AND BLOW SOME FUCKERS UP.

HEY MICHAEL OBAMA,

I BET YOUR DAUGHTERS DON’T GO OFF TO SOME

MUSLIM COUNTRY TOTING AN M16 FIGHTING THOSE PESKY

TERRORISTS

Dear Parents of children in the UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA…....

  Please keep your children out of IVY LEAUGE

UNIVERSITIES and the likes of Stanford et.al.

LOOK AT WHAT THE GRADUATES HAVE DONE TO OUR COUNTRY !!!!

Michael should have spent some quality time with

her daughter at   a   SOUP KITCHEN in the

DISTRICT OF   COLUMBIA ,  volunteering and teaching

her daughter to do the same so she won’t grow

up and go   to STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND   marry
a GOLDMAN/SACHS douche bag.

Well thank God we had enough money to build that new
mega airbase weapons delivery system in Afghanisan, and
the new large embassy we are builing there plus all the
other permanent bases under construction.

  And I am really , really glad that at least we
had enough money to build the GREEN ZONE , and twenty
permanent modern up to date military bases in Iraq.

WE WILL BE ABLE TO DELIVER WAR ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
  With draw DATE???? Who cares they lie???

I am so glad Americans here at home will take
THE AUSERITY MEASURES so our money can build these
huge money dumps for the INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS.
THANK YOU AMERICANS FOR ALL OF YOUR SACRIFICES…

CEO,  GOLDMAN/SACHS,  “OH AND BY THE WAY,  I ALSO WANT
TO EXTEND MY THANKS TO CAPITOL HILL FOR PUTTING ONE OF
MY OWN ON THE SUPREME COURT.  THANK YOU”

Marcus always writes about crap in a simplistic way.

I am as disappointed in Michelle Obama now as I am with President Obama. 

An expensive mother-daughter getaway during 10% unemployment and environmental disasters?

WTF?

So the Obamas caused BP to create devastation with their offshore drilling. Well thanks for the information, I had no idea. And the Global Financial Crisis? You guessed it. It was the Obamas again. The war in Iraq? The Obamas again- even though Mr. Obama voted against it. The reason Americans are unemployed and doing it tough has nothing to do with the Obamas: that all happened on the watch of the Bushes and the Cheneys and will happen again, mark my words, if the banking system is not re-regulated the way Roosevelt regulated it as a result of the Great Depression. Meaning an end to hedge funds and criminal Ponzi schemes that make Goldman Sachs rich while people go bankrupt and lose their houses. The Republicans will, of course, fight all this to the last Republican Senator.

Whether Michelle Obama takes a holiday or not is neither here nor there: the crazed ideology of the fascist overlords who rule America, the ones who aren’t elected and never have to do the job of getting elected or governing are the problem. They were there before Obama took office and they will be there when he leaves and those parasites have no intention of ever removing their feeding tubes from the body politic of America as long as there’s breath in their bodies and another sucker to be scammed.

@Maani, what are you yapping about? Obama is simply implementing in Iraq the Status Of Forces agreement BUSH signed with the Iraqis. He’s also keeping the Vatican-size embassy in Baghdad and a bunch of permanent bases littered over the country.

Obama has killed MORE civilians in Pakistan than Bush ever did.

Obama’s economic policies have actually not prevented the system from still being under threat of a bigger collapse according to Paul Krugman. Obama himself said he supports big CEO bonuses because they are part of the free market.

Can’t resist a good argument, what the Hell, I am born in the USA!

I look at Ms Obama’s trip complete with glitz and glamor, and wonder what’s the difference between the Obamas, and the Clintons. Both came to DC to do good, and are doing quite well, Thank You…

I do wonder what the many Black Americans who supported Obama proudly, think about this reminder as to how a Black American can rise above poverty. And, at the same time, ensure that his kids and grandkids are born with silver spoons in their cute little breakfast bowls. Of course, that example doesn’t come with a Presidential Pardon for the thousands and thousands of young Black Men in prison - altho BHO dis shrink the mandatory sentencing difference between possession of crack cocaine and powdered cocaine by 50% - non retroactive. I’d imagine that is one of the great accomplishments we are obligated to applaud. IMO, it is too little, too late - to be trite. 

One thing most of us should learn is when we have enough: enough food, enough stuff, and enough good sense not to behave like Ms Gotrocks when people are losing their homes.

I also wonder who is weeding that garden?

I am not going to be pulled into this media circus

of Palin’s a moran, Obama is a socialist,  I fight for

slave mexicans,  all slave mexicans are criminals and

robbed social security…..

All this is media design…......all the MSMs guilty
as hell of manipulation and diversion that even our
intellect is falling for.

Madam:  If you can name a president who has created more far-reaching legislation
and positive good for his constituents since, say, FDR, I’d like to hear the name.

In a year.

Symbolize *that*,  for flying pink Jesus’ sake…

Sir,  when the cow starts addressing the needs of this
country, quits gingoism, quits dropping bombs on
innocent people,  tells the American Public that it plans
on making peace with Iran, quits letting companies like
BP tell him to get the hell out of my way….

  I will walk around the cow, pat him on the back and
say “JOB WELL DONE….now go do your presidential duties
of goodwill SYMBOLISM,  all around the WORLD !”

Robespierre:

“Who is making excuses for George Bush here? This is a tired old trick by Obama’s groupies, always bringing up Bush when a critique is made of Obama.”

The critique is not of Obama, but of his wife.  I was obliquely pointing out that at least Obama himself is not vacationing - and certainly not to the degree that GWB did.

“I don’t see what immense, groundbreaking socio-political work Michelle has done…”

I said nothing about “immense” or “groundbreaking”: you are setting up a straw man (or, in this case, woman) and patting yourself on the back for knocking him/her down.  I simply said that she has done more in her first year than many First Ladies did in their entire terms.  And that remains the case.  From healthy eating and obesity, to the homeless, to, yes, the National Parks, Michelle has been active in a number of causes.

“...but at least Eleanor’s husband was busy putting together the New Deal and fighting a little something called THE GREAT DEPRESSION.”

Obama’s stimulus package - on top of GWB’s TARP program - WORKED.  Every single economist worth their salt - even those who oppose many of Obama’s policies - agree that, without those measures, the recession WOULD have become a Depression.  This includes two Nobel laureates (Stiglitz, Krugman) and Nouriel Roubini (no great fan of Obama), among others.  As well, Obama’s temporary gov’t “takeover” of GM helped turn the company around from near-death to nearly profitable in less than a year.

So although he deserves plenty of blame for not addressing the jobs/unemployment situation, his economic policies HAVE worked, and kept this country from spinning even further toward Depression.

“Meanwhile Obama just feeds the fatcats and slaughters civilians abroad.”

I suppose he has fed some fatcats.  But he is about to remove a nice entree from their diet when he allows almost all of the Bush tax cuts to die.  Yes, he wants to keep a couple, but most will be gone.

As for slaughtering civilians abroad, at the risk of “doing it again,” Bush & Co. slaughtered SO many more civilians than Obama that there is almost no comparison.  Yes, he should have left Afghanistan sooner.  But at least he kept to his promised date to take the combat troops out of Iraq (you can be CERTAIN that Bush would NEVER have done so), and has set a date for similar withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Thus, Obama has certainly earned disappointment from his supporters.  But your specific accusations - particularly the economic ones - don’t hold water.

Peace.

“it’s the extravagance of Michelle Obama’s trip and glitzy destination contrasted with President Obama’s demonization of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy

Barack Obama does not demonize the rich.  Like Bill and Hillary Clinton, he is one of them.  He loves them.

It’s a big world ofersince and like it or not, symbolism now extends beyond American shores.  A European depression looms of proportions not seen since the 1930s, and Spain is the canary in the coal mine the world is looking to.  I say a big lavish Spanish “vacacione” is in order *precisely* for its symbolism, and who cares what the rednecks think—they’re gonna hate him (and her) anyway.  Don’t trip over the cow.

I will answer my own question..

Because the Obamas , just like every other first couple,
are to wrapped up in symbolism and not really concerned
with the issues of the American Citizenry.

“I made my symbolic trip to the National Parks last year”

And the Parks are still in a pile of mess this summer.

Why not this summer too???

elisalouisa:  The Obamas visited two national parks—Yellowstone and Grand Canyon—last summer.

Did I miss something? Does it state anywhere in the article about who is paying
for Michelle’s friends? Are taxpayers paying for her entourage’s hotel bills and
such? I would love to see the bill for this jaunt. Was a plane supplied for the
friends by taxpayers? The sweaty unwashed would like to know.

Give the us a break Ruth Marcus.

Michelle is flashy, no other way to put it. How can she spend time with her daughter with 50 or 60 other people around?

Our National Parks are in trouble, follow this link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/06/wyoming-grand-teton-national-park

Libraries, education and other important programs are now threatened with severe cuts and even worse. Michelle could do so much for the common good.

Note: That’s a guardian link about the threat of closure of one of our National Parks. Why didn’t msm pick up this story?

hello. this pomposity bequeaths another certificate: the marriage certificate. how can the wife of supposedly an elected resident of the White House, not be there to celebrate one of his four birthdays in office? is this secret shuttle diplomacy, or a major rift between limp wrist and heavy arms?

It is just a Metaphore.

Robespierre:  If I’m a purveyor of ridiculous theories, at least I don’t commit the fallacy of false cause.  Spain is teetering—what earthly difference does it make whether “fatcats” or “proletariats” caused its economy to be the second worst in the European Union.  Before the crisis Spain’s tourist trade had been the second largest in the world, and tourism is the only hope it now has of not going the way of Greece—and dragging Europe down with it.  I’d say that’s sufficient reason for a big publicised visit.  That, and the ECB buying Spanish treasury bills, which I predict they’ll soon do.

France’s “insane” xenophobia is the apple to Spain’s orange, Robes, sorry so say.  Walk out the door with dark skin in Paris and you’ll do just fine.  Try doing the same in Barcelona…

It’s precious to hear anyone (dem, repub, rich, poor, smart, dumb, etc..) complain about what the 1st Lady does or doesn’t do in today’s America.

If anything all you capitalists should be proud of her. She and her husband are RICH. Yes, they have a high net worth and she can do whatever the fuck she wants, whenever she wants. She’s an American and (according to the “club membership”) she’s free.

All of you poor people and dummies would do exactly the same thing if you were in a 1st Lady’s position. So stop with all the faux “outrage” and disgust. Save it for the true creeps that run the world: the investment bankers, hedge fund managers and other defacto crooks who have destroyed the middle class in the U.S. and around the world.

@Maani, who is making excuses for George Bush here? This is a tired old trick by Obama’s groupies, always bringing up Bush when a critique is made of Obama. Kind of like the sick neocons who keep bringing up Saddam’s record when confronted with the reality of a shattered Iraq.

I don’t see what immense, groundbreaking socio-political work Michelle has done, but at least Eleonar’s husband was busy putting together the New Deal and fighting a little something called THE GREAT DEPRESSION. Meanwhile Obama just feeds the fatcats and slaughters civilians abroad.

@Egomet. Your theories are a bit ridiculous. Spain’s economic woes have more to do with fatcats looting the economy and the brutal IMF austerity measures than a lack of tourism. Michelle isn’t exactly championing Spanish proletarians during her trip.

Yes, there is racism in Spain, although I don’t see how Michelle’s trip throws a wrench into it’s wheels. Will she travel to France next which also suffers right now from insane xenophoebia?

Is it WHERE she went, or THAT she went?  If the former, there is perhaps a minor argument to be made that she might have gone somewhere less…glamorous.

However, it the later, then there is no argument at all.  Even the First Lady is entitled to a vacation, particular with kids.  What - should she simply sit at home and do nothing just because the country is in a tailspin?  Poppycock.  She is both a working human being (and working people are, in fact, still taking vacations…), and a goodwill ambassador when she travels abroad.  As an aside, Michelle has done more socio-politically in her first year than any First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt did in four or eight years.

Finally, I find it interesting that those who are so vocally negative here seem to forget that George and Laura Bush were on vacation almost one-third of every year he was in office - including during the summer of 2001, when the “red lights” were flashing re a possible terrorist attack.

What a bunch of hypocrites you are…

“... it’s the extravagance of Michelle Obama’s trip and glitzy destination contrasted with President Obama’s demonization of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy ...”

Spoken like a writer who’s holed up in a dingy apartment making up blog entries to eek out enough income to pay for the status of having a dingy apartment.

From Reagan Airport to Madrid is $685.

That’s round trip.

That’s an SUV fill-up at 7-11.

Live a little, Andrea.

Maybe I’m out of left field but to me this much-publicized trip has everything to do with Spain’s economic woes and the imperilled EU.  It’s a goodwill gesture to help get tourist dollars flowing back to Spain, if not a quid pro quo for some EU favor down the line.

It also throws a wrench into Spain’s nasty racism problem—worst in Europe.

Funny how Ruth Marcus mentions the Antoinette references at the end of the article, because with this useless piece she comes across as the typical statist trying to make excuses for a worthless fatcat like the “liberals” who still shed tears over Marie’s trip to Madame Guillotine.

Someone like Marcus, who must get a pretty decent paycheck, may want to give the First Lady a break, but this sort of oligarchic behavior is disgusting when her husband’s imperial subjects are unemployed and ignored.

Dear Ruth:
Bullshit. Mama Obama’s trip is gauche, obscene, arrogant, crass, and vulgar in
the extreme. How dare Madam First Lady “vacation” in Spain. Spain? Who in hell
does the Madam think she is? Oprah?
Americans are home homeless, unable to vacation period, jobless, barely able to
make the post dated mortgage payments, and Obama scurries to Spain?
70 freaking upscale rooms for Madam First Lady and her entourage. Bullshit
and bullshit twice no, three times. Talk about insensitive. Tasteless elitism to
say the least.
You can’t red flag for obscenity Ruthy. Nope. Why isn’t America’s Madam First
Lady down on the Gulf coast eating that “safe” seafood? Now there’d be a
vacation alright.
You see, I voted for the Obama and that’s a mistake I’ll NEVER make again. I
didn’t “vote” for Madam First Lady. She’s baggage. As ‘baggage’ the stupid
insensitive bitch should have planned for a “stay-cation.” On account of that’s
what most Americans get this fine vacation season.