Eric Owens:
Fresh off the first family’s sixth annual winter vacation to the Hawaiian island of Oahu — billed to American taxpayers at a cost of $4 million — Michelle Obama and the first daughters Malia and Sasha will now jet off to China for over a week of much-needed sightseeing.
President Barack Obama won’t be making the trip.
But don’t worry, America: The first lady’s mother, Marian Robinson, will be tagging along on the federal dime.
The theme of the March 19-26 trip will be education, reports the Chicago Tribune. The first lady and her entourage will spend several days in Beijing before venturing to the cities of Xian and Chengdu.
Naturally, the Obama family and its accompanying retinue will take in several cultural and historical sites. They will also stop by high schools in both Beijing and Chengdu.
The first lady will meet with Peng Liyuan, the second and current wife of Xi Jinping, the president of China and the general secretary of the country’s Communist Party.
Liyuan is also an allegedly popular folk singer in China. Here she is, according to YouTube, singing “To See Liberation for All Oppressed People.”
As the Daily Mail observes, the Obamas have spent a tremendous amount of taxpayer money globetrotting in luxury all over the world.
For example, Judicial Watch discovered that the couple racked up an $11 million tab on travel to South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December 2013.
Amazingly, the presidential pair was on the ground for fewer than 13 hours.
An earlier trip by the president and the first lady to Africa cost Americans in excess of $100 million. There was a Navy aircraft carrier cruising the waters off the coast of the continent, of course. There was a fleet of over 50 vehicles just for the American contingent. There were 14 limousines. There were trucks hauling bulletproof glass around from hotel to hotel.
Well, after all, the era of austerity IS over. So, live it up. Just send us the tab.
4 million, huh.
Cheap.
Hey they won, not the person, but the Party.
My Father-in-Law, from Poland, here-NY- 1948.
Gas, .18 cent.
Me, born 1956, gas at 1971 was 18 cent, when I worked at Kayo Gas station.
Now gas is $3.46, or 19.2 times higher.
It isn’t the cost, it’s the value of our Dollars.
It will take more than a generation of pain to undo the damage these two have done. The entire congress should be held accountable for letting the unchecked spending and damage to our national honor. We need an entire change of officials to begin to set America back on track to again become the “shining city on the hill”
NEIL CAVUTO IS YOUR GUY, HE IS A MAN FOR THE PEOPLE
BUT YOU HAVE TO GO AND GET HIM,
@Bob:
So who does that entitle to take a vacation at taxpayers expense? All Dimocrats? Is Moochelle now proud of China for the first time in her life?
Gas was not 18 cent a gallon in 1971. It was much more, about 40 cent.
@Redteam:
It depends on where you lived, Redteam.
In Ca we used to have ”gas wars,” where the prices would drop all the way down to $0.04 per gallon!
I can recall gassing up for less than $0.50 in 1971.
I was already in college.
CA taxes started to add to the bottom line while I was in college.
Then it was up, up up.
The 1973 oil embargo caused it to hit $1.03 but even at that you couldn’t get any.
MICHELE DON’T FORGET THAT YOU ARE SPENDING THE PEOPLE’S MONEY NOT YOURES,
HAVE A GOOD TIME
@Nanny G: Yes, I remember gas wars. I drove from Ga to Tex back in 1967 when gas was 29 cents in most places and found it in Louisiana then at 19, but that was only a ‘wars’ price. I only said what I did because I try to keep info as factual as is practical.
@Redteam:
I remember the outrage when gas prices rose to 32 cents.
@David: Yep, used to ride up to gas station and buy a dollar’s worth and cruise all night.
Obama’s Africa Vacation Hit Taxpayers For $2 Million On Lodging, Entertainment, Security Alone
Let them eat lettuce.