August 5, 2010 1:15 PM

Michelle Obama Criticized as "Modern-day Marie Antoinette" Over Spain Vacation

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
First Family

First Lady Michelle Obama smiles during a walk at Marbella's city center, southern Spain, on Aug. 4, 2010.

(Credit: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

Updated 1:49 p.m. Eastern Time

Andrea Tantaros has penned a scorching editorial for the New York Daily News deeming First Lady Michelle Obama a "modern-day Marie Antoinette" for her vacation in Spain with her daughter.

"The First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends,'" Tantaros writes, pointing to a CNN report that Michelle Obama and her group are expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms. "Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times."

Pictures: Michelle Obama in Spain

Tantaros goes on to criticize the first lady for traveling abroad instead of within the United States, something that would help the U.S. economy.

"Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette - the French queen who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects' plight - than an average mother of two," she writes. "... I don't begrudge anyone rest and relaxation when they work hard. We all need downtime - the First Family included. 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 and perpetuates a disconnect between the country and its leaders."

According to the White House, Mrs. Obama is traveling with minimal staff and a small group of family friends for a mother daughter trip long in the works.

The FIrst Lady's press office referred to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' statement at the White House briefing yesterday that "the First Lady is on a private trip."

"She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip," he said. "And I think I'd leave it at that."

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.

So a 6.5 hour flight to Spain would run $73,781.50 - double for the round trip.

The White House says that as a policy, official trips by the first family are paid by the government but all personal elements paid are personally. Since this is a private trip, the White House seems to be suggesting that the Obamas are personally paying all costs associated with the vacation.

But there appears to be some wiggle room there, in part because the Secret Service must protect the First Family, and the cost to taxpayers would presumably go up during travel.

A few years ago, as Knoller notes, the Government Accountability Office did an analysis of presidential travel at the behest of Congress. The Secret Service refused to divulge how many personnel and costs are associated with safeguarding a protectee during a trip, citing its policy to not give up information that might be used to gauge a level of protection.

25 Photos

The Obamas in Spain

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by haterofspiders September 11, 2010 5:07 PM EDT
I can not afford to have surgery to relieve me of debilitating pain but the President's wife and one of their children can afford to go on a luxury getaway to spend quality time together? My respect for the Obama family, personally and politically, has been drastically changed because of this. Whether this was paid for by them personnally or not really has become a moot point now. It was bad timing. One would think that with so many intelligent people at her disposal, Michelle Obama would have been made aware about how this trip would be perceived by the American public. Americans are out of work having been laid off from jobs or they have lost their retirments in scandals and crimes committed by corporations that they will never be able to rebuild or their homes are in foreclosure because of the state of the economy but "they" can afford this trip? With one poor coice in judgement, it is now "us" and "them". Thought this country was going to be given a chance at becoming all that it could in the hands of the Obamas but sadly it is not to be.
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by karlejohn August 25, 2010 10:58 PM EDT
Stop being so jealous! I had to make this post to balance out the conversation. Michelle has Class! I am glad she is doing what an independent woman wants to do. She is educated, beautiful, and smart. I was so glad to see an African Amercian lady hitting that ship with that bottle. (I never saw that happen before) Stop being jealous. Get some class and one day you may get a chance to marry the most powerful man on planet earth. Praise the Lord!
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by AVosburg September 1, 2010 8:56 AM EDT
I do not see any jealousy in these other comments. I see level headed people who actually WANT to help this country which is so obviously falling to pieces. For a damn 6 hour flight she couldn't take a less expensive yet "high class" as you call it flight? Yes she needs her body guards I understand that but they could use a private jet that cost easily half that amount and still have half a house that they apparenty need for a short flight. She is not classy. Classy women would not be using other peoples hard earned money for a 6hour flight. Does she really need an entire MANSION for a 6hour flight!? http://media.photobucket.com/image/air%20force%202%20plane/TomoWalker/air-force-one.jpg [<<<Air force 1 aka a mansion in a jet] I don't think so. There is nothing "classy" about her wasting all this money. She's giving a bad influence to her daughters also. Shes showing them "Our country doesn't matter. It's all about your money."
This country is full of ridiculously rich people who use there money for things like to overdose on drugs and die or to buy the most expensive hookersor to use a mansion with wings for a 6hour flight and ******** like this but then all the "little worthless people" who aren't rich are the ones who want so badly to change this counrty but can do little to nothing about it!
by ElwoodBlews September 26, 2010 11:06 PM EDT
Beautiful? Really? How many beers have you had?
See all 4 Replies
by rachieray44 August 18, 2010 11:55 PM EDT
Why does it seem as if our "belts" are on their last notch, squeezing us. While Michelle Obama's has a few extra to spare?
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by rachieray44 August 18, 2010 11:41 PM EDT
All I have to say is, how can somebody that is suppose to be a "leader" for one of the most powerful countries expect to be respected when the country is falling into ruins, and they are living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. NEWS FLASH! We are in a recession and this so called First Lady is out spending thousands of OUR HARD EARNED dollars to go to Spain like its an everyday situation. I'm sorry but I have been taught to apprectiate the simple pleasures in life, not flaunt it infront of all the Americans who don't have jobs, money, food, the Americans who don't even get the oppurtunity to experience these simple pleasures. Yet the fidiots still buy into the fact that she "deserves" this extravagant vacation, to sooth away her stress. WHY?! what has she done for you? Have you gotten a five hundred thousand dollar vacation paid for by the government? Didn't think so. What about the Americans who have been non-stop hard working for their entire lives? The men and women who are out there putting their life on the line for this country we can hardly call OURS anymore, the brave souls who have sacrificed their lives to live in a free country. Do they get the same benefits as Michelle Obama? Nope, they are sleeping in tents in the desert with nothing but a picture and a fond memory of what they hold so dear to their hearts. I have more respect for those brave soldiers then I do for the "President" and his "First Lady". Why are their needs greater then ours? Because Barack HUSSEIN Obama, has an index finger to point out this amazing change America is experiencing? Wait lets wonder for a second, in his champaign when he was so freely speaking of this change. Was he speaking for all of America or just his family?
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by Rational_Independent August 16, 2010 3:42 AM EDT
It's good to see so many Americans voicing their opinions about what they perceive to be right or wrong in America. God knows we have many rights--and also many wrongs. Sadly, many of our perceptions are based on subjective opinions rather than objective, concrete facts.

In the case of Michelle Obama's recent visit to Spain with her daughter Sasha--how much of what we think we know is based on concrete facts, ans how much is simply based on rumor and opinion?

Do we really know how much she paid for her flight, how many people she took with her, and how much their lodging cost? Do we know how much she paid out of pocket and how much was picked up by the U.S. government?

No, we don't. We the people of America simply assume we're picking up the tab for our First Lady's trip to Spain with her daughter.

However, there are many Americans who frequently travel to other countries every day, week, month, and year for business, education, family or pleasure, and we think nothing of it. Why is it so bad that the First Lady does the same?

Jackie O, Hillary, Nancy, Rosalin, Mamie and Martha have done the same.
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by ElwoodBlews September 26, 2010 11:11 PM EDT
Actually we do know. She paid for the equivalent of her personal air fare (first class tickets) and personal expenses. The rest, including the remaining costs of the flight and the cost of security and their expenses, was picked by John Q. Public.
by jamaclaypod August 26, 2011 12:35 AM EDT
When those first ladies vacationed, families weren't living in tent cities, and putting their children to bed hungry at night. This is not just bad political timing; it shows a disconnect from the reality of what is happening to America's less fortunate. Jealousy has nothing to do with it. Arrogance and insensitivity do. If we should "eat cake" because there is no bread, then she should be beheaded by her people as history repeats itself.
by winks_LBJ August 12, 2010 1:59 PM EDT
Michelle Obama's Spain trip: The inside story why she went
By Lynn Sweeton August 9, 2010 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (102)

WASHINGTON--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.

Mrs. Obama is the most popular figure in the Obama orbit -- and turned around her image from the 2008 presidential campaign by adamantly staying away from any kind of controversy, focusing on safe issues: combatting childhood obesity and helping military families.

The Spain trip generated coverage on the networks and cable news shows and other national outlets -- including columns and posts I wrote -- raising questions about public perception and taxpayer costs.

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. (The first family flies to Florida this weekend.)

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 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.

How did they end up at the five star Villa Padierna, part of the Ritz-Carlton chain? Because of security concerns, there were just some places they could not go. Agents were able to secure Villa Padierna and the nearby beach area.

Totally not true, though reported by some big-league outlets that she went:
Mrs. Obama did not attend a charity ball at their hotel hosted by Antonio Banderas and Eva Longoria on Saturday night. Mrs. Obama went out to dinner with her pals.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at a Wednesday briefing if there was any concern about "the appearance" of Mrs. Obama's Spain trip.

"The first lady is on a private trip. She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I'd leave it at that," Gibbs said.

Gibbs is wrong. Mrs. Obama oversees a major Obama domestic initiative, the child health campaign. In April, she flew to Mexico to launch her "international agenda" of youth engagement. And she supervises an East Wing staff that is responsible for every special event in the White House, from bill signings to state dinners. Mrs. Obama is a public figure and it is reasonable to ask how she spends taxpayer resources.

FOOTNOTE: Before returning to Washington, Mrs. Obama and Sasha on Sunday flew to the island of Majorca to lunch with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at their summer palace.

The AP, quoting a menu released by the palace, said lunch "was Andalusian-style chilled gazpacho soup, char-grilled turbot, veal escalopes with mustard, Oriental rice with sauteed mushrooms, a Mallorca-style vegetable ratatouille and sliced fruit with ice cream, accompanied by wines from the northern regions of Rueda and Rioja."

Categories:Michelle Obama
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by margroks August 12, 2010 8:51 AM EDT
No, Americans buying "foreign cars are NOT undercutting our economy. Many foreign cars are built here int he US and provide AMerican workers with good jobs while so-called American made cars are always built with foreign made parts. Besides, All Americans should be free to buy the best car for the money and if "American" cars don't measure up that's their problem.

And in the same vein, Mrs. Obama should be free to take a vacation whenever and wherever she wishes. It's an unfortunate fact that people in high public office have to take special measures in order to be safe and this is no exception. I believe I once read that the First Lady gets more threats than the Vice President. She could hardly take a commercial plane.

And, as I believe I already pointed out last week, Marie Antoinette was actually fairly fiscally conservative and her bad press and subsequent beheading were a result of enemies behind the government takeover.

Personally, I think all the griping about her or the president taking trips lacks substance since other presidents took far more (George Bush Jr., for example) and may be even more about the fact that she is an African American woman who's just too upity for some people. Jackie Kenedy, a well educated woman, traveled widely and was much beloved for it.

Presidents and their first ladies SHOULD be out and about and travel to foreign countries as representatives of the United States, letting other people see what we're like as well as getting a close-up look at people in other countries.
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by livfreeordi August 11, 2010 1:08 PM EDT
What's the big deal?

This incident is just MORE proof of something we already knew..that Barack and Michelle Obama are clueless, elitist, double standard liberal hypocrites.

Anyone who is STILL surprised by this just hasn't been paying attention.

There is no news here.
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by winks_LBJ August 12, 2010 1:52 PM EDT
What is hyporcitical about going on a vacation she is paying for herself? She doesn't have a choice about whether the Secret Service travels with her or not. It is mandatory. And they are paid a salary, whether they are sitting on a beach in Spain or in the organic garden at the White House. She is a mom, exposing her children to priceless experiences. If Sarah Palin were doing that, you would find some reason to praise her. Michelle is using her own money. Sounds like sour grapes because you have no money thanks to George Bush's friends robbing our economy of every penny.
by falconco August 10, 2010 4:30 PM EDT
She tries to emulate Jackie O, but honestly, I buy my clothes at Macys and wear them better than Michelle....have a better figure, too, and I'm retirement age!
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by ughhhh August 19, 2011 1:55 PM EDT
What a petty comment. Internal ugliness goes well with your Macy's clothing.
by boynebound August 10, 2010 4:24 PM EDT
My biggest concern is the fact that Michelle took 40 "close" friends on this trip at the expense of $85,000 PER DAY. And some of you believe the Obama's are paying for this out of their own pocket? When you tell me you are going to raise my taxes for the banking bailout (thanks Barney! oh, and Miss Maxine!) for Obamacare. And I have to suck it up- well guess again> President Bush may have taken his share of vacations to TX, but if he took friends to the ranch, we weren't paying $85K per day in hotel rooms that cost $2500 per night! where is fiscal responsibility? Suck it up on your own dime OBAMA's!
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by winks_LBJ August 12, 2010 1:56 PM EDT
I am not sure if you are aware of this, but the Obamas were millionaires several times over prior to winning the presidency. Barack Obama has two best selling books, and Michelle was a successful attorney and law school administrator.

Also showing your ignorance: BUSH signed the banking bail out, not Obama. And based on the level of education you have demonstrated, I can hardly believe your taxes have been raised. Do you earn over $200K???

PLEASE, for the love of God, get your facts straight before posting on these pages.
by mollydtt August 13, 2010 4:09 PM EDT
I guess you didn't read about why she went to Spain and how there were no "40 friends".
I'm also very tired of people making up facts and figures and then trying to pass them off as news.
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