Kass: Let Them Eat Cake!
2010-08-08
Posted by: badanov
John Kass of the Chicago Tribune takes a sympathetic look at the First Lady's recently concluded vacation to Spain.
And if the first lady wants to take her daughter and her friends to Spain and spend her own money, how dare anyone rip her for it?
Agreed. Unfair to criticize a wealthy woman for wanting to treat her daughter to a once in a lifetime vacation...
There are many legitimate issues for which the Obama White House can be criticized. But ripping on the first lady for taking a vacation to Spain is just plain wrong.
Agreed.
Yes, the government picks up the tab for her security and the presidential jet. But we'd pay that tab if she returned to Chicago. So relax.
The problem isn't the trip. It's the logistical tail she brought her and her husband's current policy ripping rich folks for their profligate ways. Turnabout is fair play.
Many of you know that I'm no fan of the Obama liberal big-government politics. I like President Barack Obama personally. It's his politics that drive me crazy.
I got five bucks that sez you voted for him, John.
So every time the White House hints at more federal taxes and regulations -- policies that frighten business away from hiring unemployed workers who are desperate for jobs -- I've got to do something to calm my nerves.
Try drinking heavily, John.
So I smoke a couple bowls of Hopium trimmed from the smiling Obama Chia Head sitting on my desk, and everything's all right.
Very revealing, John.
But Michelle isn't going to raise the national debt by going to Spain. No one is going to lose their job. The Spaniards seem to like her. And what's wrong with Spain anyway?
No, but Mrs. Obama is adding to it in her own little way..
Where do you want her to take a vacation, Wisconsin Dells like the rest of us?
Grand Lake in Oklahoma is lovely this time of year. Great fishing, okay nightlife.
There's nothing wrong with the Dells. Some Chicago politicians go to Aruba for the casinos. Mayor Richard Daley might go on an exotic trip with his developer buddy, Michael Marchese.
Wipe drool from your chin, John...
But working families vacation at the Dells. And I can't picture Michelle's wealthy entourage squeezing into a Paul Bunyan for the lumberjack breakfast before spending the day at a go-kart track.
Aside from the nutbusting security, what would it hurt?
Some pundits shrieked that they should have gone to California, because it's just as nice as Spain. California as nice as Spain?
Oh, shut up.
In California, do they have free-range pigs that eat nothing but special golden acorns until their flesh gets buttery, forming the foundation of the exquisite ham known as jamon serrano?
In California do they serve earthenware bowls of tiny baby eels, called anguilas, delicately sauteed with virgin olive oil, garlic and a touch of red pepper flakes?
You have a point, John, but California has several air hubs all that stuff can be flown in.
Has California ever won the World Cup? Of course not.
No, but they recently acquired Hello Kiffin.
I wish I could afford Spain as well, but I'm not going to criticize our first lady because her husband made several million on his two autobiographies before he turned 47.
Nice rhetorical juke, John. Irrelevant, but nice.
"The bottom line is that optics matter," sniffed a Republican political strategist on CBS. "… At a time when we're seeing 9.6 percent unemployment, 70,000 jobs lost this month, people losing their homes, and it doesn't convey that she senses the plight of working families."
Yes, optics do matter. It's not that Mrs. Obama didn't consider those optics. But the daughter wanted Spain. So vamanos, chiquita.
Very impressive. Way to dismiss a legitimate criticism. By ignoring it. The same as with the rest of your media buddies.
If I were president and my boys wanted to go to Spain and watch soccer games, then on to England, France, Germany, Greece and Turkey, guess what?
I'd send them. And you'd send your kids where they wished, if you had the money.
I'd tell them to bring back some nice photos. But that's just me, John.
A few years ago, every time President George W. Bush or first lady Laura Bush appeared to have even a smidgen of fun, the network news would juxtapose their smiles against some heartbreaking account of impoverished Americans eating road kill to survive another winter.
Way to go. Very impressive. You suck as a polemicist, but you don't need that, do you? Just by ignoring the fact that during W's time we had a relatively tame US government in near full employment, you can actually make a point.
So I suppose much of this Marie Antoinette business is a reaction to all that liberal media bias against Republican presidents. The bias has been evident for decades, and it's one reason why networks and many newspapers have lost viewers and readers.
Wrong John. TV networks and newspapers have lost customers because of the internet. And conservatism is an easier sell.
But Republican Party pundits are now acting exactly like the Democratic water carriers they once whined about.
True. Except the republican have an actual point to make about oversized government spending, exemplified by the First Lady.
They want to paint a portrait of Michelle telling her peasants to eat cake if they can't find bread.
But the real picture is that it's none of our business that a mom with a lot of cash wanted to take her daughter to Spain.
I don't mnow many moms with a multimillion dollar logistical tail, do you, John?
So let them eat ham.
How about canned tuna? ( Sorry: O-club reference. )