Yes, She’s Our “Uptown Girl”… Michelle Obama’s Ridiculously Lavish Vacation in Spain (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on August 6, 2010
Let them eat arugula! First Lady Michelle Obama during her embarrassingly lavish personal vacation to Spain... thank you, American taxpayers!
Spain must be simply lovely this time of year… especially for Michelle “Uptown Girl” Obama and 40 of her closest BFFs.
She, daughter Sasha, those 3-dozen-plus close friends, and a tripled-up security entourage of Secret Service will be cavorting through Spain and staying at the premier luxury, five-star resort hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.
The hotel is dubbed the “Millionaires’ Playground” and offers an array of amenities, including 400-thread-count 100% combed cotton linens, 24-hour butler service, Italian or Andalucian artwork, thermae spa with 8 themed baths, indoor heated swimming pool, lush gardens, and several tennis and racquet courts. Rooms at Villa Padierna cost up to a reported $6502 per night — all this, during the worst economic recession and unemployment that the United States has been hammered with in at least three decades.
Hotel Villa Padierna: indoor pool in spa, overlooking the gardens
Anyone close to screaming yet?
Wonder how big the Uptown Girl’s carbon footprint for this extravagant vacation trip will be? As big as… Spain maybe? And how much are you and I and the rest of America paying for Michelle’s abject self-indulgence? Imagine the front-page outcry by the media if LAURA BUSH had rented 60 or more rooms for four days at a luxury resort in Spain… no outcry when it’s “Michelle Antoinette,” however.
We all remember when Pres. Barack Obama admonished America during his first month in office by saying, “Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”
What we didn’t know was that he was crossing his fingers when he said it.
The five-star Villa Padierna, 'Millionaires' Playground', where Michelle-O and her huge entourage will be staying in Spain - 60 to 70 rooms have been rented for the First Lady
Chicago’s head Obama cheerleader/journalist Lynn Sweet isn’t too amused about this latest lavish vacation of the First Lady’s, but puts on a brave face… she writes:
Mrs. Obama’s Spain vacation is one of eight she is taking this year. She has no official duties in August, and whether she will jump on the campaign trail to help Democrats in the November midterms is still up in the air, frustrating Democrats who could use her popularity to help them in fundraising.
She is now at a world-renowned resort while the jobless rate is high and the economy is still struggling. By doing so she is tempting a backlash. Mrs. Obama is highlighting the beauty of Spain’s Mediterranean coast before her weekend visit to Florida’s coast later this month to encourage tourism in areas not impacted by the BP oil spill.
The East Wing argues that Mrs. Obama is not an elected official and, as a private citizen, is free to focus on her family and friends. Still, what she does will be perceived by the public one way or another — the East Wing has to know that. Mrs. Obama has gone to great lengths so far to avoid any controversy in her tenure and as a result has popularity ratings in every poll much higher than her husband’s.
She and her family and friends started the New Year in Hawaii, the president’s native state, which the Obamas try to visit each year. Since then, Mrs. Obama has had, or will have, some quality vacation travel.
Lynn then provides the First Lady’s vacation list. For the record, Sweet forgot (or conveniently omitted) another vacation, bringing it up to NINE. There was that mini-vacation that Barry and Michelle took in late April to Asheville, North Carolina. You remember… the one that the left-wing media swooned over, declaring that the Obamas were vacationing just like regular “middle class” folk. The one just after the vacation trip to New York and Broadway shows and just before the vacation trip to Chicago, instead of attending the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington on Memorial Day. I won’t even go down the road that a portion of the family’s Hawaii vacation was in 2010.
Michelle’s 2010 vacation list, per Lynn Sweet:
1. March: Over spring break, Mrs. Obama, her daughters and mother, Marian Robinson, visited New York with friends and took in some Broadway shows.
2. Memorial Day: a weekend trip home to Chicago.
3. June: Mrs. Obama, her girls and her mother flew to Los Angeles for sightseeing.
4. July: A Camp David visit (though the presidential retreat can be considered an extension of the White House).
5. July: A weekend in Maine, sightseeing in Acadia National Park, part of an Obama plan to showcase national parks.
6. Aug. 4-7: Spain.
7. Aug. 14: A first family weekend planned on the Florida Gulf coast. The first couple have been trying to draw tourists to the area in the wake of the BP disaster.
8. Aug. 19-29 The first family will vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.
I won’t fault Lynn too much on forgetting about the North Carolina vacation. Keeping track of all the Obama family’s vacations is dizzying.
Associated Press: Spain’s Marbella Resort Awaits Michelle Obama
From Gateway Pundit, Michelle And Sasha’s Excellent Spanish Adventure…At Taxpayers Expense!:
First Lady Michelle Obama arrived on vacation in Spain on Wednesday just as the State Department ditched a travel advisory warning African-Americans to be careful about going there.
The website of the Office of Consular Affairs erased the advisory saying, “Racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain.”
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the advisory referred to “an incident that occurred about 18 months ago,” which he didn’t describe. “Upon review, we thought it was no longer current, and we removed it,” Crowley said.
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(The first lady’s four-day vacation includes reserving 60 rooms in a 129-room hotel. Accommodations start at $333.00 and go up to $6502.00 per night. You do the math.)
Michelle-O and a tiny portion of her entourage, sightseeing and shopping in Spain
From Blue Crab Boulevard, Marie Obama:
But while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns – or forgoing them altogether – the Obamas don’t seem to be heeding their own advice. While many of us are struggling, 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.” According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.
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Hey, let’s guess how many Americans could be employed for a month with the money Marie Obama is spending on her glitzy, 5-star vacation! Heck, why not speculate on how much good spending all that cash would do for the staff of an American resort, instead of a Spanish one?
Here’s a hint, folks: the “rich” Obama is always on about who earn $250,000 a year do not fly 40 of their closest friends to a 5-star resort in Spain for a few days. My back of the envelope figuring on this is that the jaunt will cost considerably more than that. How much is taxpayer money is a seperate issue. Just the optics of this are appalling.
From NY Daily News, Material girl Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation:
Sacrifice is something that many Americans are becoming all too familiar with during this economic downturn. It was a key theme in President Obama’s inaugural address to the nation, and he’s referenced it numerous times when lecturing the country on how to get back on its feet.
But while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns – or forgoing them altogether – the Obamas don’t seem to be heeding their own advice. While many of us are struggling, 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.” According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.
Reports are calling the lodgings of Obama’s Spanish fiesta, the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, “luxurious,” “posh” and “a millionaires’ playground.” Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two.
From Mail Online, ‘Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette’: First Lady slammed for lavish Marbella holiday:
Michelle Obama’s lavish holiday in Marbella has led her to be compared to Marie Antoinette.
The First Lady is in the Spanish city for four days with her daughter Sasha – and a total of 68 Secret Service agents from the US.
She is staying at the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna, where her entourage has reserved 60 of the 129 rooms.
Today New York Daily News columnist Andrea Tantaros likened the President’s wife to a modern-day version of the French queen, who was famously extravagant with her spending.
Tantaros wrote: ‘To be clear, what the Obamas do with their money is one thing; what they do with ours is another. Transporting and housing the estimated 70 Secret Service agents who will flank the material girl will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny.’
And she accused the Obamas of hypocrisy for preaching the values of sacrifice and austerity to Americans while seemingly refusing to heed their own advice.
She said: ‘Instead, Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette… than an average mother of two.’
She added: ‘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 demonisation of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy and perpetuates a disconnect between the country and its leaders.
‘Toning down the flash would humanise the Obamas and signify that they sympathise with the setbacks of the people they were elected to serve.’
Just a week ago, Pres. Obama said he could relate to the financial plight of Americans… he and Michelle “took a hit like everyone else.”
In an alternate universe, maybe.
Related:
Michelle Malkin: Unemployment at 9.5%; another Obama econ adviser bails; Mrs. Obama hits the beach
Camp of the Saints: and The Pablum Puke Of The Day
Gateway Pundit: Krauthammer on Michelle O: A vacation to Spain Is a “Bad Idea for a First Lady Who Literally Tells Us to Eat Our Spinach” (Video) and First Lady’s Most Excellent Spanish Adventure Will Cost US Taxpayers Over $200,000 and IT’S OFFICIAL: Barack Obama Is Worst Jobs President Since Great Depression and After US Economy Loses Another 125,000 Jobs Obama Says: “We’re Heading in the Right Direction” (Video) and Custard Store Owner: Biden Went Off On Me, I Was Shocked and Obama Continues to Lie About Jobs; Says “I Expect to Be Held Accountable” (Video) and Thanks Barack. US Economy May Not Recover For 5 or 6 Years and White House Admits GOP Could Take House Back… But, Will Stick With Failed Policies Anyway and Dem’s Financial Bill Imposes Race & Gender Quotas on Financial Sector and As Dem Policies Continue to Fail Miserably – November Thumpin Looks More Likely and Independent Voters Abandon Radical Obama in Droves and Dems Refuse Compromise on Unemployment Benefits; Go On Vacation and After US Economy Loses Another 125,000 Jobs Obama Says: “We’re Heading in the Right Direction” (Video) and Unreal. Obama: “Unemployment’s at 9.6%… At Least It’s Not at 12, 13 or 15%” (Video) and Media Shocked to See “Unexpected” Rise in Jobless Rate and Nancy Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Are the Fastest Way to Create Jobs (Video)
Frugal Café Blog Zone: “Skin in the Game” Barack-Style– First Family’s Dog Bo Flies to Obamas’ Maine Vacation on a Separate Jet and More Bleak “Hopenchange”… Record-Breaking: More Than 780,000 Families in Illinois Receiving Food Stamps and Obama & Reid, Two of a Kind: Responsible for Nevada’s Broken, Decimated Economy, Highest Rate of Home Foreclosures in Nation, Angle Slams Reid (video) and Bad News: Police Layoffs of Up to 30 Percent for East St. Louis… Blame It on Obama’s Terrible Economy and Stimulus Waste: Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Signs by Democrats, Team Obama (video) and Limbaugh Transcript: Obama Claims He Inherited “Decade of Economic Uncertainty”… What Decade Is POTUS Talking About? and Bloom off the Liberal Elitist Rose: Mort Zuckerman Clobbers Obama, Even Barbra Streisand Against POTUS on His Deficit Spending Disaster (video) and “Kicking the Dog” One Time Too Often… Wall Street Donations to Democratic Campaigns Drastically Drop and Outrageous: Congress Deemed $1.1 TRILLION Budget “As Passed” – Sneaked in Increased Spending Before 4th of July Weekend and Obama’s Secret to Cheering Himself Up When Faced with Failed Stimulus & Record Unemployment: Have a Danish! (video)
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Michelle’s glitzy Spanish vacation
Nice Deb: Michelle et al’s Excellent Adventure In Spain and Mark Levin On The New Financial Reform Law and Video: Obama Speech In KC – The Usual Mix of Bush-Blaming, Empty Promises, and Strawmen and Unbelievable!: Right Before 4th of July Holiday Weekend, Congress “Deemed Faux $1.1 Trillion Budget ‘as Passed’
No Runny Eggs: Monday Hot Read – Tom Blumer’s “The Most Depressing Numbers in Friday’s Employment Data”
Is This Blog On?: Same As It Ever Was
Motor City Times: You Try And Fix The Federal Budget
Telegraph: With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932
SusanAnne Hiller, Big Government: Why Didn’t the Deomocrats Take a Vote on Deficit-Neutral Unemployment Bill?
The Conservative Pup: Careening Down The Mountain Straight Toward The Cliff
USA Today: National debt soars to highest level since WWII
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[...] via Yes, She’s Our “Uptown Girl”… Michelle Obama’s Ridiculously Lavish Vacation in Spain (vide…. [...]
The Obama’s did not work their way up, they sold out everybody along the way to get ahead, while also selling their own souls. Add 20 years in Rev. Wright’s anti-American church to corrupt and terrorist affiliations, plus folks like George Soros financing the dismantling of America, and you get greedy power hungry hypocrite leaders who redistribute the wealth of those who worked and saved, in order to gluten themselves. And now, like Marie Antoinette, Mrs. Obama is flaunting it in the faces of Americans who are suffering financially. Hopefully, Michelle and Barack Obama will suffer the same fate as Marie Antoinette … off with their heads !!!
Amazing, Our Pres. has some big real brass ones that he shoves in our faces with arrogance to show off lavish expencess while millions, including the unemployed, count their pennies to stay afloat.
I hate to say it, but Fox news is right, Obama is just not in touch with real people.
It should become obvious to most people by now that the regime is burning the wick at both ends.
I know it’s hard to endure, but at the same time it’s fun to watch fools destroy themselves.
Well, this is why it doesn’t really matter what so-and-so’s opinion is on Obama or anyone else based on what they say. It’s important to check out how people behave and make up our own minds. I think it’s kind of interesting that both the Clinton’s lavish wedding plans for Chelsea and Ms. Obama’s extravagant European vacation posted in the same week. Both of them feel like lost opportunities to communicate compassion for everyone by spending less instead of more. If they just behaved “gourmet-frugal”, then everyone would rally around them. Kinda sad.
Good points, Diane. In all honesty, I don’t have much of a problem with the Clintons spending so much on their daughter’s wedding. It’s their money, she’s their only daughter, and so, heck, why not? In America, if you earn it, you should be the one to choose how to spend it.
HOWEVER… this is the progressive-socialist administration that wants to play Nanny/Big Brother with mandates about our earnings and our lifestyles. They want to spend their money as they see fit, but don’t want the same for the American public. Huge hypocrisy here.
And, as you pointed out, if they had behaved at all “gourmet-frugal,” support for their expenditures would be greater. Amen to that. We haven’t gotten the final price tag on the Material Girl’s Spain vacation. Word is that US taxpayers will end up paying for a lot more for Michelle’s trip than the media is divulging. For instance, the closure of the public beach for Michelle and her friends to go swimming without pesky locals getting in the way may come with a hefty price tag for the Spanish police who were dispatched there.
Her many vacations shows that they do not care about the US citizens who pay their expenses. How many vacations do most peoplke take when times are so bad? They are evil and practice outrageous and conspicuous consumption. Vote them out in 2012 because their “change” has been for the worst and is ruining our country.