Not Frugal: Obama’s Valentine’s Day Splurge at Chicago’s Table 52
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on February 20, 2009
Chicago's upscale Table 52 restaurant
Last weekend, with family and staff in tow, Pres. Obama flew on Air Force One to Chicago (leaving the rush-rush-rush stimulus bill unsigned) for the President’s Day weekend. Once there, Barack and Michelle dined on Valentine’s Day at the Chicago upscale restaurant Table 52 owned by Art Smith, Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef.
Now, I don’t want to begrudge Obama wanting to treat his wife on Valentine’s Day – in fact, it’s very sweet – but was it necessary to do it out of state and with an entourage at a very pricey restaurant? With the country hurting as much as it is, this has a slight smell of elitism and insensitivity. According to the Chicago Sun-times, the Air Force One traveling party also included First Grandmother Marion Robinson, friend Valerie Jarrett, WH Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, and Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. The article didn’t mention the Obama daughters, but I’m sure they also were there.
Washington Times wrote, “The Obamas are spending a long weekend in Chicago for their first real break since he became president on Jan. 20. Aides say they have no public events.” A break? Weekends are breaks. Trips to Chicago with staff and family are mini-vacations, and he’s been in office less than a month. Already a vacation?
So many questions here, most of them with a bit of frustration. Wasn’t there a nice restaurant in DC for the Obamas to dine at, one that was maybe not so expensive for taxpayers? How much did it cost to fly the presidential jet out to Chicago? Just how frugal was this choice? Why now, when the economy is doing so horribly, is something this fanciful planned by the president? Whatever happened to “lead by example”? (Is Marie Antoinette laughing again in her tomb?)
And if the stimulus bill (i.e., porkulus bill) was just going to languish on a desk through the three-day weekend, why wasn’t more time allowed for Congress to actually READ the bloated thing? Just asking…
We’ve all been told by Obama that we can no longer live the lifestyles we’ve been living, we need to cut back, not waste or overspend, need to get “skin in the game” and make sacrifices. Well, most of us have, and continue to do so. But, we haven’t yet seen any belt-tightening actions of this nature by Obama nor his administration (btw – Nancy Pelosi flew out Friday on an 8-day, all-expense paid by taxpayers, trip to Italy. Meeting the Pope, all that good stuff. Grrrrrhhh…)
With our own family’s economic situation, we dined at home on Valentine’s Day, but my hubby made a wonderful baked chicken dinner. Not as swanky as flying out to Chicago to eat at Table 52, but very sweet.
Michelle Malkin’s blog also addresses the insensitive Valentine’s Day choice: My Restaurant Recommendation for the Obamas
Something else the Washington Times reported that seems more than odd: “The trip came with a minor hiccup: Obama’s motorcade left without the small group of reporters who travel everywhere with the president. The motorcade pulled out of the neighborhood and left the president without media coverage for about 45 minutes, unusual for the news organizations covering Obama and the White House.”
Not sure what that is about.
Additional reading:
Phelim McAleer & Ann McElhinney, Big Hollywood: Come Fly With Me | Obama’s Broadway date and Eco-Hyprocrisy
About the author
He’s still vacationing and campaigning, because that’s all he knows how to do. He has never governed or been responsible for anything, really. He’s spending other people’s money like water because that is all he knows how to do. One of the Chicago papers reported that a local small-plane business lost $50,000 of Valentine Weekend business because all around Chicago was a no-fly zone for the entire time O was there. Many people had put down deposits for intimate, fun flights for a great Valentine’s date night or even to “pop the question”. The business owner had to refund all their deposits, and made no money. But then, he works for a living, so I’m sure O has no sympathy for him.
[...] us not forget his Valentine’s Day splurge, flying the family, including Grandma, and WH staff members on the presidential jet to Chicago so [...]