Villa Padierna is a five-star resort in Marabella Spain where Michelle Obama was vacationing with her daughter Sasha, and Secret Service staff.According to CBS News Political Hotsheet, August 5, 2010, Mrs. Obama is being targeted as a "Modern-Day" Marie Antoinette.
Controversy with the American People
CBS News, reports that Michelle Obama is vacationing with 40 of her closest friends and they are said to occupy 60 to 70 rooms. According to The National Ledger, August 8, 2010, Mrs. Obama is expected to take 8 vacations before the summer is finished. The New York Times also notices and says, ""The image of Michelle Obama vacationing abroad while Americans struggle back home struck some as ill-timed!" CBS News tallies the round trip ticket is right under $150,000.
According to CBS News Political Hotsheet, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports, "The C-32A (757) the First Lady used to fly to Spain - one of the planes that usually serves as Air Force Two, and sometimes Air Force One - operates at a Department of Defense reimbursement rate of $11,351 per hour.
A 6.5 hour flight to Spain would run $73,781.50 - double for the round trip."
Excessive Vacationing
According to the Examiner.com, Portland Maine, Mrs. Obama returned home on Sunday August 8, 2010, and celebrated the President's birthday with a BBQ on the South lawn. Mrs. Obama has received backlash from the American public. In a poll taken by the Examiner, 64% of the voters thought that Mrs. Obama's vacation was ill-timed because of the struggling U.S. economy, while 36% said it was okay for her to relax and have fun.
According to The Celebration of the Flotus blog, a blog that follows Michelle Obama, "10% of the population is unemployed."
Michelle Obama's vacation is viewed as excessive. The controversy continues as she is scheduled to continue with her upcoming vacations. According to The Examiner, Mrs. Obama is scheduled to visit Martha's Vineyard in August. According to AP on Yahoo, Mrs. Obama and President Obama are headed out once again on vacation and will be in Martha's Vineyard August 19-August 29th. The White House announced that Mrs. and President Obama, will spend one night along Florida's oil-threatened Gulf Coast the weekend of August 14th, 2010.
According to ABC News Travel, the Obama's spent three days in July on vacation in Maine, at Boothbay Harbor, and they stayed at Bar Harbor Regency Hotel.
Although it is expected that Mrs. Obama will vacation with her family, the root of the controversy stems from the excessiveness, and frequency of the time-off taken, while the American people are in such dire straits with the declining economy, and the down real estate market.
Brenda Sturgis - Brenda Reeves Sturgis Brenda Reeves Sturgis is the author of 10 Turkeys in the Road, debuting in 2011, with Marshall Cavendish, ...
