Michelle Antoinette, or, Nobody Expects The Spanish Vacation

I don't get it either. The NY Times coverage of Michelle's latest vacation is filled with headscratching:

The White House was reluctant to discuss Mrs. Obama’s trip. The only official comment came from Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, at a briefing last week when he said that Mrs. Obama “is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I’d leave it at that.”

However, the Times duly notes that Private Citizen Michelle is a secret Transformer:

The staff is with her because she will pay a courtesy call on King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía on the island of Majorca on Sunday before flying home to Washington.

Whatever.  The Times mails in this tepid defense:

Laura Bush took vacations without her husband each year of George W. Bush’s presidency, traveling with her Secret Service detail on a government plane to meet friends for camping in national parks. But that never generated as much furor, in part because vacationing in the United States is not as politically delicate for American leaders and their families as doing so in foreign countries.

No kidding.

We have a President with a long problem establishing that he is in touch with those middle Americans bitterly clinging to their guns, their religion, their hopes for a better job, and so on.  Now Michelle is jet-setting in five-star hotels while Democrats strategize on getting their message out.  Point One:

Democrats are on the side of the middle class.

It shows.

AN EXPLANATION THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN MUCH:

Here we go:

Michelle Obama returned to Washington on Sunday from five days on Spain's Mediterranean coast, taking a mother-daughter trip with Sasha, 9, that stirred controversy. A White House source told me, however, that Mrs. Obama traveled to Spain to help a grieving friend deal with the death of her father.

...Mrs. Obama met two friends in Spain, who flew there on their own. The three women were joined by a total of four daughters. (Some news outlets reported Mrs. Obama was on vacation with 40 friends; that was not true.)

One of the women is a longtime Obama friend, Anita Blanchard, an obstetrician who delivered Sasha and big sister Malia, 12. Her husband is Marty Nesbitt [link], a close Obama friend and treasurer of Obama's presidential campaign fund.

A White House source told me the Mrs. Obama was not able to attend the funeral for Blanchard's father at the beginning of July. Blanchard, who was taking her daughter on a promised trip to Spain, asked the first lady and Sasha to come to Spain with her. (Malia is at overnight camp.) "She felt it was important as a dear friend to do this," I was told.

Because nothing says "healing" like an international media circus with dozens of Secret Service agents, policeman and reporters around.

I accept that she could not dictate the venue to her friend.  However, Ms. Obama could have politely declined, suggested an alternative site or time, or gone ahead and demonstrated that she both vacations and grieves in ways quite unfamiliar to most of us.

MORE:  There is no question Ms. Blanchard and Michelle spend a lot of time together:

LYNN SWEET CHICAGO-CENTRIC FOOTNOTES:
1. Jarrett, the Whitakers, Nesbitt, Blanchard vacationed over the holidays with the Obama family in Hawaii. The same group also traveled to Oslo in December to see Obama pick up the Nobel Peace Prize. The same group was also at the Nov. 24 State Dinner.

That was in addition to celebrating Michelle's 46th together.

Comments

[Jeff]

yep, Laura Bush going on a annual camping trip with her pals (something she had been doing for years) is exactly the same as a glitzy trip to the coast of Spain ...

[BumperStickerist]

The latest spin has to do with Michelle accompanyng her close friend to Spain, because the friend's father had died earlier this summer and Michelle couldn't make the funeral.

The bereaved friend had promised **her** daughter a "trip to Spain" - she asked Michelle and Sasha to come along.

Ace of Spades commenter "Warden" points out this:

The summer started with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Chicago; the family went to the Camp David presidential retreat before July 4; they weekended in Maine, sightseeing in Acadia National Park, departing on July 16 and returning Sunday afternoon July 18.

ace brought teh funny

http://minx.cc/?post=304431 {link under name}

not "Tom Maguire" funny, but, still, funny.

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Zero to resign]

We have a President with a long problem establishing that he is in touch with those middle Americans bitterly clinging to their guns, their religion, their hopes for a better job, and so on.

Fixed it for you.

[Frau Regierungsbeamtin a.D.]

I hope Michelle Antoinette has a re-enforced comfy chair.

OT - Creating and saving killing (private sector) jobs: Gates announces cuts in VA military.
" ... the Defense Business Board, a panel of company executives who advise the Pentagon ... said Gates should cut the number of civilian employees by at least 15 percent. The panel also identified Joint Forces Command as contributing to much of the contractor bloat because it had more contractors than government employees on its payroll."

When will we *all* be government employees?

[Danube of Thought]

I'm waiting for somebody to give us a report on her table manners.

[Frau Regierungsbeamtin a.D.]

Arrrrr...LUN

[bgates]

You're reading an awful lot of Megan McArdle, given that she's nothing but a more masculine version of David Brooks.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with Michelle Obama vacationing in Spain; they have the money, so why not?....Whether or not people should resent it, they will....Yes, yes, I know--mean Republicans would make hay out of a vacation no matter where it was. Probably so."

That came a couple of days after referring to herself and...Brooks, I guess, as "us libertarian types", meaning "devoted Obama worshipers who make our more honest progressive friends feel open-minded by agreeing with them that Republicans are horrible, thus demonstrating it's not ideological it's simple fact because there's agreement across the Manhattan political spectrum from the Working Familes Party to the 'libertarian types'".

Nobody Expects The Spanish Vacation

"Michelle Obama Tells Nation to Settle for Lower-Middle-Class Lifestyle, Spends Exorbitantly On Herself - Unexpectedly!"

[MarkO]

First, she went now because later she has another vacation. Carpe diem [which, loosely translated means days full of carp]

Second, remember the little blurbs in the Enquirer about Mr. President's actual woman friend? You say it's your birthday?

Third, I guess there isn't a third.

[Porchlight]

Help me, my co-worker is listening to the livestream of Obama's address from here on the UT campus, just a block away.

Oops, time to leave work early for the day...

[rse]

Anybody know where they plan to visit along the Gulf Coast this weekend?

[Jane]

I think it is Florida rse, Charile Crist is their only ally in the region.

[Appalled]

bgates:

You're reading an awful lot of Megan McArdle, given that she's nothing but a more masculine version of David Brooks.

TM is doing his best to avoid epistemic closure, so you don't have to.

TM:

I don't get it...

Actually, it's very simple. Miohelle wanted a beach vacation, and these things have to be planned in advance. Back in May/June, Michelle had no idea what beach on the gulf coast might be available, and heck, all that oil could have found it's way up the East Coast too...

[windansea]

BumperStickerist | August 09, 2010 at 02:17 PM

here is teh funny by Ace:

Top Ten Activities To Honor Friend's Departed Father At Michelle Obama's Five-Star Funeral Jam

10. Barbecued shrimp slightly al dente out of respect for the dead

9. When snorkeling, bereavers hold their heads upside-down so brilliantly-colored coral fish appear to be wearing sad face frowns instead of happy face smiles

8. Commemorative Jet-Skiing

7. Morning's mani-pedi group outing begun by reading of appropriate Psalm, and then reading of a random cartoon from Marmaduke: The Classics, because you can't start your day off too heavy on the Spanish Riviera

6. Extreme zip-line excursion reminds everyone that life is fleeting

5. Resort's specialty drink? The "Mortal Coil Monsoon"

4. Waiters and bartenders only tipped 7% to remind them that there are things more important than money

3. Bereavement Para-sailing

2. Booze Cruise's Martini-and-crossed-swords flag lowered to half mast

And the number one activity to honor the dead at Michelle Obama's five-star funeral jam...

1. Moment of silence strictly observed after each Bama Slamma shot

[Clarice]

I was just wondering what had become of you, windansea

[matt]

our chief weapon is surprise..fear and surprise, our two chief weapons, and ruthless, our three chief weapons are...

why is this such an accurate microcosm of the Obama administration's policies?

as to Michelle Antoinette, they just can't seem to get their story straight....was it 40 friends, or two, or a mother-daughter getaway with Juan Carlos y Sophia.And where is Jesse Junior in all of this?

Or was it a 5 day Priceline getaway package gone terribly awry? Those cancellation, change flight, baggage fees etc are a bear these days....

"Mrs. Osama, excuse me, Obama, there is a checked child fee of $65 for any children over the age of 7 traveling to the European Union plus an enhanced cavity search fee of 18.7 Euros payable at the hotel rate, which comes out to $367.50 at today's exchange rate. You will have to go back to the check in counter to pay using either Visa, mastercard, or Discover they don't take cash and bring us a receipt before you can board.

[bgates]

TM is doing his best to avoid epistemic closure

How 'bout you do your best to avoid substituting inapplicable philosophical jargon for commonplace English words like "closeminded". Once you do that, you might notice that you're accusing me of being closeminded based on the fact that I formed a negative opinion of McArdle based on reading what she wrote, and recommended that others not waste their time on her. For what it's worth, I'll make the same recommendation about you, and for basically the same reason: The most interesting thing about your pretense that you come to an unswerving support of the Democrats based on facts rather than ideology (What ideology? Heck, you're a "Moderate"!) is the question of whether you're a liar, a fool, or both.

[Rob Crawford]

you're accusing me of being closeminded based on the fact that I formed a negative opinion of McArdle based on reading what she wrote

See, you're just not supposed to form an opinion. You're simply supposed to accept what you're told!

[boris]

Tsk tsk ... Appalled was just being cute. One must endeaver to be even handed. For example Obama may be incompetently attempting to dismantle the capitalist system and undermine two party democracy but GWB's smirk was so easy to hate.

[DebinNC]

See, you're just not supposed to form an opinion. You're simply supposed to accept what you're told!

I think that's what happened with Michelle. After 25 years listening to Uncle Jeremiah rail against middle-classism, the Obamas are devout adherents of upper-classism.

[Thomas Collins]

WARNING! BAY STATE OFF TOPIC INTERRUPTION!

Jane and Rocco and Dave(in MA) and other JOM Bay Staters, it looks as if Matt Amorello, former MassPike Chairhoncho, has seen better days. See LUN.

[Jim Miller]

Let's admit it, discussing this trip is just plain fun.

For my own contribution, I speculated that the trip had been planned by a Republican operative -- and noted that Maureen Dowd (!) is calling for Michelle Obama to be more domestic.

[windansea]

Clarice | August 09, 2010 at 03:50 PM

Hi Clarice, I've been busy moving to Cabo so just lurking but still reading!

[Appalled]

bgates:

I don't know how much reading McArdle's blog it takes for you to determine she's a mannish woman, or unworthy of the attention of others (including our host -- who surives repeated applications of Krugman and the New York Times, for gosh sakes, and who seems to get on well with the occasional lefty). Nor do I much care. Calling out TM for daring to cite somebody who is not on your approved list, even when you have no problem with the argument, is presumption that demands snark from someone. You are just fortunate that H.L. Mencken is long dead, and his ghost doesn't bother with comment threads.

[Clarice]

wind--if things keep up we may all sneak over the border and join you--a re-reconquest as it were.

[boris]

"to determine she's a mannish woman"

Mannish is appearance. Masculine might be style. Reads to me more dig at Brooksie's foppish swish than Megan's appearance.

Pedantic accuracy has never been one of your strong points though. Too bad ... sorta requisite in a scold.

[Appalled]

boris:

scold?

I'm not the one telling TM what to read...

[Sue]

Where did bgates tell TM what to read? I'm sure I skimmed it so fast I just missed it.

[DebinNC]

Jim Miller's link to Maureen Dowd is very interesting, especially the last few paragraphs where Dowd correlates the timing of Michelle's gal pal trips with what's happening back home with Obama at the time. Her absences seem purposeful and reflect hostility toward him imo.

[boris]

scold? does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?

[Rick Ballard]

I though bgates was issuing a health warning. Spending too much time reading those afflicted with Northeastern Brain Fungus (a prerequisite for employment at the NYT or Atlantic) can lead to an inability to distinguish puerile sophistry intended to obfuscate rather than clarify from honest expressions of thought. You can actually wind up in the Ivy League Lemming Society, able to regurgitate somewhat less than scintillating non-thoughts at cocktail parties but unable to distinguish an oncoming freight train from a baby buggy.

[peter]

I hate to be a spelling prig, but isn't the word impostor spelled with two "o"s?

[bgates]

Calling out TM for daring to cite somebody who is not on your approved list, even when you have no problem with the argument, is presumption that demands snark from someone

Then you save up your lunch money, and maybe someday if I do that you'll be able to hire one of the big kids to ghostwrite the smackdown you're laughably incapable of providing yourself. I quoted the parts of McArdle's writing (it doesn't deserve to be called an argument) that I found disagreeable, which were the several sentences in which she claimed that only blind partisanship could drive objections to the spectacle of the nation's #2 leading scold enacting a grotesque caricature of the pursuit of the material pleasures she enjoys telling the rest of us we don't deserve, and which we can't afford anymore in large part due to the policies of her similarly insufferable husband the Scold-in-Chief.

Boris is correct about your other misreading. Give that man some freshly creased trousers.

[Extraneus]

Wow, peter, it is.

[Frau Edith Steingehirn]

Re: Michelle in Spain is a pain in the drain.
Are we being played like a fine violin?

[Stafir]

Joeandval already covered ther spy work, mabe te King can help more with dollars or something? Vl really should run things like Hilly. Paris is bttereally.

Thank God we joined NATO and JTF and bought that fighter thing.......a lot of value for that...so can we getnything from the community like parts or something? No one wants to fight another war with com things. Thank God we left NATO Afghanistan.........

[Stafir]

Sorry, got the google joint things wrong and it's okay now cause there is more money in

[boris]

two in a row on the same thread ... impressive

you might be ready for the next level

[Lisa]

You should research Anita Blanchard's father's death. Cause for some odd reason, even the Sun Times ( where Ms. Sweet is a "journalist" ), doesn't show a single Ovelton Blanchard ( Anita's father ) having ever died.

http://legacy.suntimes.com/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/obituary-search.aspx?daterange=99999&firstname=ovelton&lastname=blanchard&countryid=1&stateid=17&affiliateid=1063

Now, one would think that if his death was so heartbreaking to warrant a trip to Spain to console her best friend, that there would be SOME mention of it in the CHICAGO paper where he resides.

[Clarice]

A more reliable source is the Social security death index,Lisa, and is shows someone by that (unusal) name died a short while ago.
BLANCHARD, OVELTON W 20 Nov 1933 24 Jun 2010 (V) 76 60619 (Chicago, Cook, IL) (none specified) Mississippi 425-64-3447

[Jane]

Wow - some fights here are so worth reading, someone should put them to music. Appalled reduces bubu to a puddle.

TC - Howie Carr was all over that - and the mug shot in today's Herald is not to be missed. Someone called in and said he looked decapitated, and I pretty much agree.

[Ann Mongrel]

Just a lovely reminder:

Michelle Antoinette: "Barack Will Require You to Work."

h/t The Anchoress

[boris]

"Appalled reduces bubu to a puddle"

Bubu started out as a puddle ... but Ignatz did splash bubu all over the street in the Geez thread ...

[centralcal]

Jane: sorry! just can't bring myself to read bubu. But I will take your word for it that Apalled reduced him to a puddle. lol.

[peter]

So these dopes at the LUN can't even spell.

[Ann Mongrel]

Another oldie but goodie:

Laura Bush went on camping trips with her friends and went to Afica to support her husbands AIDS program, educating people about the prevention and treatment of diseases contracted by women.

Michelle spent our tax dollars ($375,000)consoling one friend or pretending to enrich her relationship with one daughter.

Got it.

[glasater]

From Ann Mongrel's link on Michelle Antoinette--the last line goes something like:

Barack Obama will never let you be uninvolved, uninformed...

Uninformed of "what" is what I'd like to know.

Incredible arrogance--and there are some D's that want this woman to campaign in their districts...

[Jane]

Centralcal,

Oh I don't read him either, but the take downs are fantastic!

[eaglewingz08]

I remember when burying my father last year, the first thing I thought about was to take a vacation the very next month in a foreign socialist country. NOT. I guess the grand daughter was not very close to the deceased, otherwise I could not see how she could enjoy being on vacation while the body was still warm. Also, did not see any photos that showed either Michelle or any of her friends in any somber or grieving attitudes or body language. Lots and lots of smiles and shopping though. My they are troopers. Such marvelous actors...There's no people like show people, they smile even when low...