We might make our mortgage this month. But the Obama's are on a different level with us paying for them and their expensive ways. I googled and snopes this thing.....nothing. But I see quite often that snopes won't have anything on something that is true when it involves the pres or his wife.
queen michelle.jpg From CanadaFreePress.com - which seems to be doing a better job of analyzing our out-of-control presidency than our own Formerly Free Press:
Recession, Depression, What Michelle Worry?
First Lady requires more than twenty attendants
"In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much," she said. "See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, " Michelle Obama
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties. But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! If you're one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:
1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
5. Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
11. Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
14. Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
18. Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
21. Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
22. Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
And btw, whenever I run any critique of Michelle, I hear from her fans that the Bushes never had this kind of scrutiny and were guilty of the same thing.
Are you kidding me? Can you even imagine Bush gallivanting all over several continents, taking a flotilla of jets to accommodate Laura and her attendants? Refusing to disclose the cost of European vacations at taxpayer expense?
Here are the facts for those who want to compare - from the American Thinker: Queen-like staff support for First Lady:
Because of the increasing demands on presidents' wives in recent years, partially because of the obsessive celebrity culture, resulting in an expanded public role, I don't begrudge tax dollars for Michelle Obama's social secretary, a few chefs, maybe another employee or two or even listing some nice clothes as a legitimate business expense.
But given President Barack Obama's (D) very public scolding to companies who received bailout money not to host lavish business conventions and such, the Congressional grilling of auto executives who flew to Washington on private planes instead of commercial or even using their own cars and similar public put downs, this lavish retinue of numerous (mostly) ladies in waiting reeks of a certain je ne sais quoi, let them eat cake mentality.
Perhaps Ms. Obama's staff should follow the example set by her husband's staff and blame--or in this instance, learn--everything on the situation she inherited. As Ralph Alter pointed out yesterday:
For purposes of comparison, please consult Dan Froomkin's 2004 White House Staff List-By Salary published in the Washington Post on June 13, 2004. Tallying Laura Bush's staff from the list provided by Froomkin totals $561,325 in annual salaries for the former First Lady's staff.
In other words, even accounting for inflation, Laura Bush's expenses were less than half of Ms. Obama's--and this was in those flush times derided by Obama fans. If Michelle Obama wants to be involved in more projects than those required by her husband's job, that is her personal choice. And it should be her personal expense.
but boy can they spend
There are 2 replies to this message
