$5 million price tag for Obama’s wasteful vacation spending

Wasteful spending that is not controlled by Congress. This is why Congress must be cleaned out. If you have a Republican in Office vote in a Middle of the Road Democrat like Leah Lax to curb this waste as stated below.
http://www.showbizspy.com/article/254968/barack-obama-5-million-vacation.html

Posted by Adam

Thursday December 13, 2012

BARACK Obama has spent $5 million on a luxury Christmas vacation in Hawaii — and the bill is being footed by YOU, the tax payer!
According to America’s Globe magazine, Barack, his two kids, and wife Michelle Obama have embarked on a glorious getaway and are enjoying lots of costly, over-the-top perks.
“The First Family is demanding all sorts of costly, over-the-top perks, and their lavish splurging has unleashed fury,” a source said.
Recent reports claimed Michelle flew into a rage after photos of Barack’s flirty behavior with Thailand’s stunning prime minister “humiliated” her in front of the world.
“Michelle’s explosion of jealousy has been building for some time,” a source said.
“It’s bad enough Barack basks in the attention of Hollywood beauties like Kerry Washington and Scarlett Johansson, but this was an official engagement with photos flashed around the globe.
“Michelle felt humiliated that Barack would be so uncaring of her feelings to behave like that. She read him the riot act for conducting himself like a ‘player’ rather than the president of the United States.
“Michelle felt her husband was making her look ridiculous in Bangkok. Whatever their issues are behind closed doors, Michelle demands respect when the public is watching.
“When he got home, the president had a lot of explaining to do. I’m sure he was wishing he’d behaved in a far more statesmanlike manner.”

Michelle Obama Vacation Scandal

James Joyner · Saturday, August 13, 2011 ·  

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/michelle-obama-vacation-scandal/

Keith Koffler, proprietor of “the only 24/7, independent, and totally unauthorized White House blog,” has unearthed a scandal: Michelle Obama takes a lot of vacation.

First Lady Michelle Obama over the last year has spent a total of 42 days on vacation, or a little more than one out of every nine days, according to a White House Dossier analysis of her travel.
Her vacations, the cost of which are mostly borne by taxpayers, include trips to Panama City, Fla., Martha’s Vineyard, Hawaii, South Africa, Latin America, Vail, Colo., and her visit this week to her brother in Corvallis, Ore.
The total does not include a nine day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard that the Obamas will enjoy this month. Nor does it include a trip she made to Ireland and Great Britain in May, which I’m counting as official travel.
The total vacation time would have been slightly higher had the Obamas gone as planned for an April weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The trip was cancelled due to an extended stalemate between President Obama and Congress over the budget.

Honestly, I’m not sure how she finds time to do her job! Oh, wait: She doesn’t have a job.
Additionally, Koffler is attributing anything that might conceivably be pleasurable as “vacation.”

Mrs. Obama’s vacations began in August 2010 with a two day weekend trip to Panama City, Fla., where the Obamas stayed overnight at a Gulf of Mexico hotel in a symbolic effort to show that the Gulf area was safe for travel in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.
[...]
In December 2010, with President Obama delayed because Congress was still in town, Mrs. Obama decided to leave without him for their annual Hawaiian vacation, racking up at least $63,000 in additional costs because she travelled alone. Since the president arrived late, he decided to leave Hawaii in January two days later than scheduled – resulting in a 17 day vacation for the first lady.
[...]
In March, Mrs. Obama travelled to Latin America for a five day trip. I’m counting two days of this as vacation, though, because she took her children and her mother along, performed some sightseeing, and went to the beach.
The first lady went to southern Africa in June for six days in what was partially an official visit. Since Mrs. Obama took her mother, her children and their cousins along, since the trip was billed in advance as having personal significance for her, and since the travel included several tourist destinations and a safari, I’m counting half of the journey as vacation, or three days.

It’s pretty standard for first ladies to accompany their husbands on trips. And it’s not exactly unheard of for them to incorporate some fun into the process (to the extent one can have fun constantly followed around by the Secret Service and a gaggle of reporters).
So, what’s the problem?
Presumably, Koffler’s complaint is this:

Taxpayers pick up most of the cost of transporting the first lady and her extensive entourage – including Secret Service and her staff – to her various destinations. While she may in some cases pay some of the tab for her personal expenses and travel, the amount is dwarfed by the overall cost to the public.

But I’m not sure we should blame Michelle Obama for this. Her husband is president and, by virtue of that, she and her daughters are high value targets for various nutbags. So, everywhere they go, they’re transported in the most expensive way possible and preceded, accompanied, and followed by some of the world’s most elite security forces. That it’s incrementally cheaper to protect her in DC than in Hawaii or Vail is perhaps something the Obama’s should keep in mind; but surely it shouldn’t be the driving force behind their actions.

WH Petition Demands Obama Cancel Hawaii Vacation

http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/12/07/wh-petition-demands-obama-cancel-hawaii-vacation/

by Keith Koffler on December 7, 2012, 8:49 am

A new petition gaining ground on the White House website calls on President Obama to cancel his estimated $4 million vacation and devote the money instead to helping victims of Hurricane Sandy.
The petition, which was created just two days ago, had 872 signatures as of 8:45 am ET this morning and is potentially be on its way to garnering the 25,000 signatures in 30 days required to elicit a response from the White House.
According to the news site delmarvanow.com, the petition was filed by John Phoebus, the organizer of a volunteer hurricane recovery group in Somerset County, Maryland. Phoebus was angered that the storm-ravaged county was denied direct funding from FEMA.
The petition states that for about the cost to the government of sending Obama on an expected three-week Hawaii vacation, Somerset could be rebuilt.
The petition reads:

On December 3, 2012, President Obama denied the request of Governor O’Malley and the entire Maryland congressional delegation to award Individual Assistance to Somerset County, Maryland to recover from Hurricane Sandy.
Somerset County is Maryland’s poorest county. The towns of Crisfield, Fairmount, and Deal Island were devastated by the hurricane, with flood waters causing widespread damage. These poor, working waterfront communities were already fragile from the decline of the seafood industry. Super Storm Sandy left them with no where to turn except FEMA for assistance.
For the $4 million it will cost taxpayers for the President to vacation in Hawaii, we could rebuild Somerset County. The President should stay home and send our tax money to Somerset County to rebuild.

The $4 million price tag for Obama’s vacation was calculated by the Hawaii Reporter and includes $250,000 in local costs.
But the actual expense to the federal government alone is likely even higher than $4 million, since the cost of just the transportation – roundtrip flights for Air Force One and an accompanying cargo plane – amounts to about $3,530,000, according to the Reporter.
UPDATE: As of 8:45 am ET Saturday morning, 24 hours after the above post was written, the petition had 3,855 signatures, a gain of about 3,000 in just 24 hours