Ace of Spades HQ

June 05, 2012

Big-Spendin' Obamas: Their Personal Has Become Our Political
— Ace

Half a million for a Spanish getaway there, half a million for a night on Broadway there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

To some extent I think this is sort of bullshit: Maybe presidents like to pretend to be hardscrabble men of limited means, but few actually are. Even men of modest beginnings, like Nixon, were fairly wealthy by the time they took office.

That said, if Obama's going to run this insipid "Mitt Romney is rich, ew" campaign, then it's worth a look at the Obama's plush lifestyle.

Jodi Kantor's book The Obamas noted the Obama's lavish habits.

Even the president made uncomfortable jokes about why his wife needed so many things. Behind the scenes, aides said, the Obamas were concerned about money: the presidentÂ’s books could only sell so many copies, and it would be years until he could write more and the first lady could write her own. From vacation rental homes big enough to accommodate the Secret Service to all the personal entertaining they did at the White House, their lifestyle had grown fearsomely expensive.

People shouldn't demand that people of means should live like paupers, just to send some signal that they're "of the poor."

That signal is itself a lie. It shouldn't be transmitted.

So, what's this nonsense I keep hearing about "Horse Ballet?"

Mitt Romney is a rich man. He made his money the old-fashioned way -- he earned it. He actually gave away his inheritance from his father. Yes, he was still armed with his father's connections, and those are a form of wealth. But he worked for his money.

He didn't just have a political movement donate it to him, through buying an "autobiography" which in all likelihood was written by a domestic terrorist.

The Obamas are welcome to their ceviches and waygu beefs and Spanish getaways.

But let's have an end to their attempts to stoke resentment against Mitt Romney for doing what every parent tells his kid to do: study hard, work hard, be a success, make enough money to ensure your children will never want.

Posted by: Ace at 01:26 PM | Comments (65)
Post contains 366 words, total size 2 kb.

1 We don't care. We still loves you Pres Bama with all our childrens hearts.....

Posted by: The People of Brattleboro, Vermont at June 05, 2012 01:27 PM (48wze)

2 Mmmmm, children's hearts

Posted by: Cannibals at June 05, 2012 01:29 PM (sJKFk)

3 Ceviche is a seafood dish popular in the coastal regions of the Americas, especially Central and South America, and the Philippines. The dish is typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chili peppers. You may now continue.

Posted by: @SOEarpiece at June 05, 2012 01:29 PM (NG097)

4 The left must teach the masses to resent rich people. Otherwise, we might get the idea that we can generate our own wealth instead of waiting for government to give it to us.

Posted by: Mindy at June 05, 2012 01:29 PM (j9Bdj)

5 Children's hearts, wrapped in gold leaf, roasted to perfection. Mmmm.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at June 05, 2012 01:30 PM (cujSl)

6 The Obamas are welcome to their ceviches and waygu beefs and Spanish getaways.

Well said, Ace.

Posted by: Zombie Marie Antoinette at June 05, 2012 01:30 PM (QKKT0)

7 Knocking out the posts preparing for tomorrow!!! Excellent!!! Of course, all these threads will be dead to us....

Posted by: yip in Texas at June 05, 2012 01:31 PM (cQhQZ)

8 What a lovely pair of boots Mr president. Can I please polish them with my tongue?

Posted by: Mary CloggenArtery's oxygen deprived brain at June 05, 2012 01:31 PM (sJKFk)

9 1 Mary? Is that you?

Posted by: Mindy at June 05, 2012 01:31 PM (j9Bdj)

10 And where did George Bush vacation? Back in Texas. How often do the Obama's go back home to Chicago to recharge their batteries and clear some shrub?

Ha.

Posted by: CUS at June 05, 2012 01:31 PM (84pE9)

11 The Obama's are using tax dollars to purchase his shitty books, so they're pocketing our tax dollars in more ways than one.

Posted by: © Sponge at June 05, 2012 01:32 PM (UK9cE)

12 Thats what we called in Detroit N88888 Rich...Okay ban me, but what the Effen Vodka you all are thinking the same thing and it was not telepathy...

Posted by: clemenza at June 05, 2012 01:33 PM (qA9lG)

13 We don't care. We still loves you Pres Bama with all our childrens hearts.....
Posted by: The People of Brattleboro, Vermont at June 05, 2012 05:27 PM (48wze)

Who shit!?!?

Oh, hi ~~Mary~~ Brattleboro, VT.

Posted by: © Sponge at June 05, 2012 01:33 PM (UK9cE)

14 The rich often let their Useful Tools live well. After Jan, Obama will be ensconced in a silk cocoon

Posted by: SantaRosaStan at June 05, 2012 01:33 PM (Dll6b)

15 Ceviche is actually not that difficult to make. You just need some really fresh fish.

Yummmm.

Posted by: CUS at June 05, 2012 01:33 PM (84pE9)

16 L'Etat, ces't moi

Posted by: The Sun/Moon King at June 05, 2012 01:33 PM (QKKT0)

17 The groundskeepers have to work overtime just to keep up.

Posted by: Michelle Obama's Landing Strip at June 05, 2012 01:34 PM (ZMtia)

18 10 And where did George Bush vacation? Back in Texas. How often do the Obama's go back home to Chicago to recharge their batteries and clear some shrub? That Bush guy didn't know anything. He could have been charging the secret service rent for staying on his property like I do.

Posted by: Slow Joe Biden at June 05, 2012 01:34 PM (sJKFk)

19 But let's have an end to their attempts to stoke resentment against Mitt Romney for doing what every parent tells his kid to do

If Obama were on the Titanic, he'd be the guy locking the doors to steerage.

(yes, I know that didn't really happen)

Posted by: pep at June 05, 2012 01:35 PM (6TB1Z)

20 Posted by: Michelle Obama's Landing Strip at June 05, 2012 05:34 PM (ZMtia) Is that like Airstrip One?

Posted by: Bill O'Reilly at June 05, 2012 01:35 PM (0vc7K)

21 New post up....apparently ace is drinking Red Bull.

Posted by: Tami at June 05, 2012 01:36 PM (X6akg)

22 It needs to be said again. Oh, how I loathe them.

Posted by: pep at June 05, 2012 01:36 PM (6TB1Z)

23 BO really isn't a hypocrite.

He is telling the poor to spend the working man's money.

He is doing that too.

Posted by: momma at June 05, 2012 01:37 PM (sYijI)

Once we kick them out of the WH the Obamas will be broke faster than a Lottery winner.

Posted by: garrett at June 05, 2012 01:37 PM (ZMtia)

25 Lavish lifestyles? My God, Michelle Obama's wardrobe alone, could supply a thousand von Trapp family children with playclothes.

Posted by: Fritz at June 05, 2012 01:39 PM (ZN5qR)

26 Stop using Obama's words to characterize Mitt. Mitt Romney is "successful". He earned his money. Obama is not successful. Everything he has was given to him and his government policies are based on giving unsuccessful people money they didn't earn taken from successful people who did earn it. Obama is attacking success.

Posted by: Javelina Bomb at June 05, 2012 01:39 PM (kqGrp)

27 Barack Obama is a Stuttering Clusterf*ck of a Miserable Tyrant Communist who hates this country.

Posted by: Toaster at June 05, 2012 01:40 PM (sJKFk)

They are entitled to a comfortable lifestyle, but I dont see where the Spanish getaway for the Mrs fits into that. Sorry, Ace, can't go all the way down this path with you.

Posted by: Jinxthecat at June 05, 2012 01:40 PM (l3vZN)

29 Missed the last short paragraph, it clears it up a bit for me. Ooops.

Posted by: Jinxthecat at June 05, 2012 01:42 PM (l3vZN)

30 Separate planes to Martha's Vinyard. Something even Romney would consider gauche behavior. I bet that extra plane cost more than a car elevator.

Posted by: Schwalbe: The Me-262© at June 05, 2012 01:42 PM (UU0OF)

31 I regularly read a fashion blog

What? I'm a chick...I secretly like girl stuff.

This fashion blog regularly reports on the major designers that the First Lady wears. She usually choose American designers, which is a good thing, but it does become overwhelmingly nauseating when I see the hypocritical horror and gnashing of teeth over the costly clothes that Sarah Palin or Mrs. Romney wear.

I understand that liberals are allowed to wear couture because they see it as art, while conservatives represent crass capitalism at its worst, but it seriously grates on my nerves, and I have no idea how to change the view point. Especially when it is only the very wealthy who can afford most of these clothes.

Posted by: Feynmangroupie at June 05, 2012 01:50 PM (oI744)

32 Fakebook closed at $25.78 today looks like Suckerberg is no help.

Posted by: clemenza at June 05, 2012 01:52 PM (qA9lG)

If Obama were on the Titanic, he'd be the guy locking the doors to steerage.

(yes, I know that didn't really happen)

Had to. It was on all the movies.

Posted by: katya, the designated driver at June 05, 2012 01:55 PM (bMLFV)

34 I really don't give a shit about the obsmas lavish lifestyle, what gives me pause in the whole story is the fact that even as non lavish independent people, they have been completely incapable of staying within a budget. Michelle Obama had this quote where she said she didn't even know how much they were paying for their children's extracurricular activities until she "added it up" a year before obama got elected. I am not the best money manager in the world, but I know to the penny how much my children's activities and child care cost and how much I need to work to cover it. It's frickin insulting. Romneys wife might have an expensive form of physical therapy, but I'm about 99 percent sure they are not racking up a massive credit card debt do she can do it. Im equally 99 percent sure the Obamas would bankrupt themselves before it occurred to them to pull Sasha out of ballet class.

Posted by: Elizabethe from elsewhere at June 05, 2012 02:08 PM (Jb7iM)

It will be years until Michelle Obama can write her book? HAHAHA. Have you read her Princeton thesis?

It'll take more than years for Michelle Obama to write a book. It'll take a brain transplant from somebody who actually knows how to write -- because she certainly doesn't.

Posted by: Observer at June 05, 2012 02:09 PM (/sohm)

36 15 Ceviche is actually not that difficult to make. You just need some really fresh fish.

Yummmm.

Posted by: CUS at June 05, 2012 05:33 PM (84pE9)

Ceviche is also code for "dog" in Indonesia.

Posted by: Ammo Dump at June 05, 2012 02:11 PM (YYyqq)

37 Why, it's almost as if they are trying to suck as much out of this gig as they can get. The entitlement mentality on steroids.

Posted by: nerdygirl at June 05, 2012 02:13 PM (V/Aej)

38 It will be years until Michelle Obama can write her book? But she wrote one. Her "hey, look, I get my hands dirty just like you little people with my White House organic garden" book.

Posted by: elizabethe at June 05, 2012 02:16 PM (Jb7iM)

39 It's not the lavishness, its the tone deafness.

Posted by: Derak at June 05, 2012 02:17 PM (VEhDR)

40 "39 It's not the lavishness, its the tone deafness. Posted by: Derak " Have you seen the Steve Guttenberg mutterings. Even liberal Hollywood douchebags are annoyed with Obama's vacationing and hanging out with Clooney crap.

Posted by: nerdygirl at June 05, 2012 02:20 PM (V/Aej)

Elizabethe from elsewhere at June 05, 2012

There's a reason why the Obamas needed their crooked friend Tony Rezko's help (and money) to buy a house in Chicago, even though both Obamas were making 6-figure salaries at the time. They are both financially illiterate, and Michelle Obama likes to spend lavishly, especially on herself. One fawning article on her from 2008 reported that she had a large collection of diamond jewelry and Jimmy Choo shoes (they start at around $600 a pair) in her Chicago home. Even now, they reportedly have a mortgage on their Chicago house at over 5% interest; they could have re-financed a few years ago to a much lower rate if they cared about being responsible with money, or if either one of them had a clue, but they don't.

Posted by: Observer at June 05, 2012 02:21 PM (/sohm)

42 How could Obama be worried about money? He'll be paied $400,000 a year for the rest of his life, just like any president.

Posted by: Kevin at June 05, 2012 02:35 PM (3o64G)

43 If someone squanders their own money with wild abandon, its insane to believe they'd ever be thrifty with yours.

Posted by: Purp (@PurpAv) at June 05, 2012 02:40 PM (2UOJZ)

44 Hey! Hey! Calm down here, Ace. Obama lied hard for his money! He had to lie that he was born in Kenya in his bio to sell books . . . for 17 years . . . from when he was 30 years old to 2 months after he announced he was running for President . . . through multiple updates and edits. I mean, that was really inconvenient! Especially when he had that D'Oh! moment when he had to cover all that up because people might think he wasn't constitutionally eligible to run for President.. Sure, the girl at the agency said it was her "fact checking" error, but if you believe that, you might believe he had someone else make up all the facts for his book as well. Then he had to convince his family in Kenya to NOT say he was born there anymore. That was hard! After all the time and money spent getting them to tell anyone who came asking that he WAS born there. Man, he earned every penny he made by getting his community organized.

Posted by: starboardhelm at June 05, 2012 02:41 PM (hHgxI)

45 I weep for you, the Walrus said, I deeply sympathize And with tears and sobs he sorted out those of the largest size Holding his pocket-handkerchief before his streaming eyes.

Posted by: Rosa E. at June 05, 2012 02:45 PM (8ihif)

46 I don't care that they take lavish vacations, I do care that they aren't paying for it.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at June 05, 2012 02:47 PM (E1JyF)

47 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at June 05, 2012 02:53 PM (Xb3hu)

48 He'll be paied $400,000 a year for the rest of his life, just like any president. Posted by: Kevin at June 05, 2012 06:35 PM (3o64G) That wouldn't even cover Michelle's Fall wardrobe for a year.

Posted by: elizabethe at June 05, 2012 02:55 PM (Jb7iM)

49 This reminds me of an anecdote from Klein's "The Amateur": Obama bought Michelle a $5,000 pair of diamonds for her birthday, She exchanged them for a $12,000 pair. How many people can afford either of those purchases? I bet they couldn't, either, but Michelle must have what she wants - "she deserves it" Obama has said.

Posted by: Lizzy at June 05, 2012 03:15 PM (Hu7z1)

50 I suspect the Romneys live quite well, but I would be surprised if they lived "lavishly". On the other hand, Baraka and Michelle remind me of someone who doesn't have much, finding a wallet stuffed with cash and credit cards, and running all over town as fast as they can to spend the cash and max out the cards before they get caught.

Posted by: the Butcher at June 05, 2012 03:16 PM (8g9qq)

Romney is my least favorite choice, but thank you Ace for saying what needed to be said.

I can see November from my house.

Posted by: Stopshouting at June 05, 2012 03:17 PM (1Jpw8)

It's not "bullshit", Ace, if they're using taxpayer $$.

Further, if Bush wasn't allowed to golf during the wars, then Bo & MO aren't allowed to spend like Daddy Warbucks during a Depression.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at June 05, 2012 03:23 PM (KL49F)

53 I wonder...
...if Lord and Lady O. had NOT ascended to the Oval Office, had NOT had the fawning press hanging on their every movement, would they have been so quick to jet-set around the globe on so damn many vacation getaways? If they had to do it on their own dime (or at least had to depend on the kindness of bundlers and other strangers), would they be as conspicuous with their consumption? I think not...

Posted by: antisocialist at June 05, 2012 03:25 PM (j/nZn)

54 @Feynmangroupie

I never knew you were a girl!

Posted by: Mrs Compton at June 05, 2012 03:27 PM (Why44)

55 I don't care how lavishly a president spends his own money. I do care how mich I have to subsidize his lifestyle with security and perks for thungs which are strictly personal affairs (i.e. FLOTUS and the daughter jetting off to Mexico with a security detachment for a vacation earlier this year). We have, and I can't really say its because of te JFK, assassination embraced the idea that the person who holds the office of President of the United States is inherently special and therefore must be guarded as if he is a monarch. It angered me the extent that the Bush administration would go to create a security bubble around the President. President Obama has been no different in this regard. The President of the United States should it be viewed in this war. They are a public servant, but with the way we treat them and allow them to be divorced from the rest of us, they forget that the core of the job is service and not being served.

Posted by: Bill at June 05, 2012 03:32 PM (NFVFe)

56 It's going to be pretty funny 20 years from now when Obama is hawking payday loans and rent-a-center furniture to pay the bills.

Posted by: Stirner at June 05, 2012 03:36 PM (nTjSs)

57 Obama will be doing a lot of speaking engagements for $100,000 "honorariums".

If he can't amass a $20M retirement fund within a few years, I'd be surprised.

Posted by: Vote Fraud Inc at June 05, 2012 03:39 PM (2UOJZ)

58 I suppose this may sound a tad harsh, but do you think the Romney's will have the WhiteHouse sprayed by Orkin before they take possesion? With Barky's mother-in-law living someplace there, and who in the God knows who else is freeloading, that's the first thing I would do. For some reason these people remind me of the OWS crowd, and we all know how sanitary they are.

Posted by: jfalcon, the curmud..curmuge..the old guy in Vegas at June 05, 2012 03:41 PM (alNEB)

59 35 It will be years until Michelle Obama can write her book? HAHAHA. Have you read her Princeton thesis?
It'll take more than years for Michelle Obama to write a book. It'll take a brain transplant from somebody who actually knows how to write -- because she certainly doesn't.

Posted by: Observer at June 05, 2012 06:09 PM (/sohm)

That's where we come in! What, you think politicians actually write their own books?

Posted by: Ghostwriters "R" Us at June 05, 2012 04:00 PM (708Gm)

60 Obama will be rolling in the dough after he gets booted, but they are no doubt going to blow through it just as rapidly. Do you think Michelle is going to stop wanting those Spanish vacations just because he is an ex-president? Who pays Carter 100K for a speech these days? 400K per year ex-president salary? Hell, Michelle will get half of that as settlement in the divorce.

Posted by: Stirner at June 05, 2012 04:00 PM (nTjSs)

61 #9, no, it wasn't me. I was at a local Garden Club function where we planted a downtown flower bed in various red, white, and blue flowers to make a twenty-foot representation of our President's "O" logo. The red and white truly represents a road to a brighter future for our children if only you right-wing racist haters would stop obstructing Barack Obama's genius.

Posted by: Mary Cloggenstein from Brattleboro, VT at June 05, 2012 05:31 PM (1RIcI)

62 If you are going to run the "Romney is the 1%" then you do not have Anna "Cruella DeVil" Wintour cutting ads for you.

Not when you are also talking about puppies...

Posted by: Mikey NTH -this is a beautiful day to sit on the patio at June 05, 2012 05:51 PM (gmoEG)

63 Mrs. Compton

Femininity isn't my strong point. The Husband can vouch for me, though.

Posted by: Feynmangroupie at June 05, 2012 06:33 PM (oI744)

64 yes, me thinks the obamas doth protest too much when prattling on and on about how rich and out of touch mitt romney is. i especially find it funny when i see obama's fat wife decked out in high end couture, and obama donning a zegna suit. these two, once they are out of the white house, are going to live high consumption lifestyles that will far exceed their incomes - as high as they probably will be. i think they have really enjoyed the jet, the lavish vacations, and the private white house movie and golf course. no matter how much money they make, those two will just spend, spend, spend.

Posted by: mistress overdone at June 05, 2012 08:56 PM (2/oBD)

65 "The Obamas are welcome to their ceviches and waygu beefs and Spanish getaways." no they aren't. Well maybe the raw fish stuff but not the rest. In a time when so many people are having a tough time financially, it would be nice to see the president and his family tighten their belts a bit as well if only out of sympathy and respect. Other presidents have done it, why not the Obamas? Instead they have done the opposite.

Posted by: cheetah at June 08, 2012 04:57 PM (zXhtZ)

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