I keep hearing in the media about how Americans are upset over Michelle's trip

[WI_DEM]

and how much it's costing tax payers and the negative image of Michelle abroad on a lavish vacation while Americans are suffering. The only thing is that I only hear this on the news from the MSM. In the real world, and I work in a real world job and have real world friends and acquaintances and I've yet to hear anybody mention this. Yes, people want jobs and are worried about the economy but I have not heard one person talk about Michelle and her daughter's vacation. My guess is that it's the MSM (once again) trying to create news--negative news on the Obama's.

[truebrit71]

1. This is all made up bullshit by the M$$$$M...

..She's the First Lady for fuck's sake..where is she supposed to stay? Motel Six?

[gateley]

2. I'd venture to guess that a number of people aren't even aware

that Michelle is on vacation.

[JuniperLea]

3. Michelle Obama is spending her own money and stimulating the world's ecomony...

From domestic airlines to hotels in Spain... I say good for her. She needs to make sure these girls have something close to what normal would have been for them had their Dad not become POTUS. Going to the zoo or the local park requires secret service... GWB still has secret service... I'm sick of the whining over made up bullshit.

[Enrique]

4. i'm not upset

but I do think the trip is excessive. I don't care what the media is saying about it, it's probably stupid. I remember Cokie Roberts saying Obama's trip to Hawaii was "too exotic".

[vaberella]

20. If she's spending her own money why is the trip excessive to you? n/t

[secondwind]

22. Hillary took Chelsea all over the world (India, Africa, etc.) and nobody said a thing about this.

It's astonishing the amount of hatred and vitriol this couple has had to endure, because Obama won the 2008 election.

I remember Queen Nancy going to Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981, with FOURTEEN TRUNKS OF CLOTHES, AND AN ENTOURAGE BEFITTING A QUEEN. Nobody said a thing.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. Laura Bush went all over the world too. I remember Nancy Reagan's trip to the UK

[HowHasItComeToThis]

5. SURE LOOKS LIKE THEY HAD FUN

DAMN THE CORPORATE MEDIA :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :nuke: :nuke: :hurts: :hurts: :yourock: :yourock:

[BlueIdaho]

6. Pushing their "narrative."

The new mission of the MSM is to agree on an agenda and then create narratives that fit that agenda. Reporting the facts is so 20th century journalism... Making shit up and telling everyone what to think about it - now that's modern media.

Chuck Todd is not Edward R Murrow, Chuck Todd is Drudge.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

7. I WOULD TRUST CHUCK ABOUT AS FAR AS I COULD THROW HIM

[BlueIdaho]

15. Agreed, but

He is no better and no worse than dozens of other crap headed opinion spewers. The MSM no longer speaks truth to power, it decides on an agenda over cocktails and then spins it's bullshit narratives as required by corporate bosses.

Edit = typo

[mopinko]

8. i think this is one of the most transparent nontroversies yet.

personally, tho, i am happy they are blowing so hard on this. it makes THEM look bad. the sooner people figure out how this shit works, the sooner we start to move forward as a country.

[raccoon]

9. Anybody got any memories of the media saying Americans are upset over

Dummie's taking vacations at his "ranch" ever time you turn around?

I'm not holding my breath....

[asjr]

10. If I had thought I could have hit them,

I would have thrown bricks at the TV when Alex Twit and Nora Donnell were on Sat or Sun. They were evidently reading from a script. They made me sick talking about Michelle and the money spent on the trip. And it was all negative talk.

[xxqqqzme]

26. Last weekend it was all

about the wedding - seems Democrats just cannot do anything right! Wonder why that is?

[4lbs]

11. Several people here on DU were moaning about it.

There was a thread I posted in that talked about the 30+ rooms in that hotel that were being rented out, and one or two though it was too much, without realizing the security aspects of it.

Another questioned whether it was wise to go on an expensive vacation overseas when the country was in a recession.

It does seem everything that President Obama and/or his family does is subject to the slightest nitpicking from not only the M$M, but some here on DU.

[WI_DEM]

16. I'm talking real world--not DU.

[treestar]

12. Absolutely. The media want to control things

They think they can set the narrative and thus control the voters.

[denimgirly]

13. Even i'm noticing this constant picking on the Obama's --what's going on.

I may have issues with Obama but come on ... even complaining about Michelle's trip...just dumb! They must be really in need of news these days.

[Retrograde]

14. Of course I'm upset - she didn't take me!

Good for her, giving her daughter some exposure to the rest of the world.

[Blue Owl]

17. Fuckin' $hit$tream Media Nonsense

My God how I loathe the $hit$tream Media and its deliberate, blatant propaganda.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. It has been nonstop manufactured RNC poutrage since August of 2008

As soon as it was clear that the Palin Ploy had failed badly and Obama was in, the MSM went on a directed rampage of poutery, in direct coordination with the RNC and in sync with the manufactured 'political party' known as the Teabaggers.

[firedupdem]

19. It is definitely a media/rw driven story. n/t

[DevonRex]

21. You can read all about it on Fox News sites. Of course no reputable Dem would ever link to them.

:rofl:

Note that I said "reputable" because we know some "other" "Dems" have.

[burning rain]

23. Maybe it's time to stop wasting time on Megyn Kelly & likeminded conservative hacks.

I have no use for this sort of shallow populism. The cost of presidents' and their families' vacations and leisure amounts to only a negligible part of the federal budget. Eliminating them entirely would not save a meaningful amount. Even if every first family spent $1 million a day, every day, on leisure, it would still add up to just $1.5 billion in four years: <i>nothing</i> in terms of federal outlays. I never even begrudged George W Bush playing golf in wartime. What I did fault him for were his decisions on matters of substance.

The GOP and their stooges in the media love to do this: try and refocus populist anger on liberals and Democrats who make leisure choices and have tastes that aren't "down home" enough, in order to distract from the GOP's truly profound elitism: its service to plutocracy, tax cuts for billionaires, and all the rest. Yammering about Michelle Obama's vacation or John Kerry's windsurfing or what-have-you is all of a piece--a piece of faux-populist shit.

[karynnj]

24. They are desperate

The First Lady is an asset creating good will. This is the case for any good First Lady. Laura Bush did less than almost any previous recent First Lady, but she did make some international trips - where she was FAR more popular than her husband.

Remember when the right went bonkers when Michelle went to England - claiming she "violated" protocol by hugging the Queen - ignoring that the smiling Queen hugged her first! There "truth" was that the Obamas were not fit to lead the country. Yet here was Michelle, who they had trashed in the election cycle, coming as close to Jackie Kennedy in terms of being a sensation overseas.

This 4 day visit was important to Spain - I know because I saw the newspapers and heard the news. Even with limited Spanish it was clear how excited they were. (Montages of pretty pictures of the Obama family don't need words) In addition, the Spanish woman leading a tour through a Spanish palace - that functions as a museum when not used for state events, told all of us that Michelle was to be received by the King and Queen, who were on their August holiday. This was a big deal. (We recently returned from a holiday in Spain - which was incredibly beautiful and fun.)

There is also a lot of revisionism - such as Bush took far less vacation than Obama has. (Laughingly not even close to true.) Hannity also repeated that Bush gave up golf for the duration of the war - except - he didn't. He also made other idiotic comments that implied it was wrong to take a vacation at all - and worse if it is overseas. But he then criticized the fact that they intend to go to Nantucket - which, on my map, is in the United States.

I honestly do not think this will work. Americans have always wanted their First Family interacting well with the world.

[mstinamotorcity]

25. This story has no

legs with me. And its going nowhere except on tv.

[otohara]

27. The Trip Was Not A Good Idea

Maybe the first family doesn't care what the media says about them, but I do. It's a full time job defending President Obama from the wingnuts, I'm having a hard time defending this one however.

Since when did "being a good parent" include lush mini-summer vacations to Europe, or summer vacations at all?

Your headline can be answered by Googling Michele Obama vacation, and read the hundreds of posts by folks who are "upset". There's the usual Obama haters, but many are ordinary American's and they aren't happy. If the Obama's thought this would NOT be fodder for the media, then they really are tone deaf. You can't blame the media, they should have known the crazies on the right-wing media would slay her over this.

I'm ready for the onslaught of insults....fire away.

[boppers]

29. Since when did being a good parent involve time with your kids, or exposing them to other cultures?

Since, well, always?

[KoKo]

32. If you have the money....it's good to travel and expose your kids to other cultures...

For Sure!

[otohara]

33. Other Cultures

are right here in America. I applaud the Obama's decision to vacation in NOLA where there's all sorts of different folks and cultures...but something tells me, this was not on their radar prior to the Gulf Gush.

So what your saying is, you must travel to spend time with your kids?

We never took "family vacations", because our son went to private school, then private college - I do recall however, spending a whole lot of time with him without ever leaving the state.

This trip will be used in attack ads as sure as the sun will shine tomorrow, something I'm not looking forward to seeing.

[annabanana]

35. I hope you have expanded your horizons since.. . .n/t

[Connie_Corleone]

30. Oh please. The right-wing nutcases would've found something else to go crazy over.

When the Obamas go to the Gulf Coast later this month, the right-wing will have something stupid to say about that too.

If the Obamas tried to do everything based on what the right-wing might say to get the media and "ordinary" folks upset, they wouldn't be able to move a muscle, much less take a vacation.

Good grief! The right-wing went crazy because Obama took his wife on a "date night".

I say they can all screw themselves. The Obamas don't need defending for doing what every other President and First Lady have done.

[prolesunited]

36. Even when I didn't have much money, I ALWAYS took my son on a summer trip

and we always went somewhere to learn about different cultures and history. We went to museums, zoos, historic sites, other parts of the country. It had nothing to do with indulgence and everything about expanding a child's perspective and view of the world. Although we didn't do Europe, if I had the money, I certainly would have.

[KoKo]

31. Ed Schultz tonight on his MSNBC show KNOCKED THIS DOWN! Boehner GOLF OUTINGS COSTS

Please watch this video:

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/blue-americas-john-boehner-tv-ads-going

It's a great CounterPoint to Michelle's vacation. Michelle is an "Indy First Lady" as opposed to John Boehner who wields GREAT POWER ...OVER any legislation Democrats and Obama Send.

Let's get Michelle's vacation into perspective for a few days off from the WH Confinement we have John Boehner spending his time on Golf when he supports going after Seniors to eat CAT FOOD...and his OBSTRUCTION of Dem Bills and Legislation.

Let's put the BLAME ON BOEHNER...and give our "First Lady a Break."

[Fire1]

34. It's the latest 'distraction' from the important issues and it's so

easily done.

[Nye Bevan]

37. A US National Park would have been a *much* better idea.

Yes, it's manufactured outrage, but why give them the chance to manufacture outrage when it can be easily avoided?

[old mark]

38. It is mainly Americans who work in TV "news" who are upset by this. nt