Bayoubuzz

Written by {ga=staffwriters} Monday, 09 August 2010 12:00

Summary: Barack and Michelle Obama are entitled to vacations, but they are not King, Queen or royalty such as the King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain.  The Obamas should remember that US families are suffering from the horrible economy. 

The last time I checked, the United States of America was a constitutional republic with three co-equal branches of government. Obviously, the President and his wife missed civics class and believe we are living in a monarchy. What else can explain their outrageous behavior? They think they are the King and Queen of America, to hell with the U.S. Constitution.

During his tenure as President, the First Couple has enjoyed lavish parties, state dinners, multiple vacations, concerts, golfing trips and expensive Broadway dates. It has been one non-stop party at our expense. Over the last 19 months, the First Couple has been living as monarchs instead of public servants. This opulent lifestyle has not been earned, but is being financed by suffering American taxpayers.  

The latest outrage occurred last week in Spain, where Michelle Obama vacationed with her daughter and forty of her closest friends. As this country deals with the long term ramifications of Obama’s policies, Mrs. Obama was dining with the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia. On the resort island of Mallorca, the First Lady munched on gazpacho, turbot, veal escalopes, rice, a vegetable ratatouille and fruit with ice cream. How nice to dine with royalty as millions of average Americans are looking for a job and trying to provide food for their families.

This five day jaunt cost taxpayers close to one million dollars. What an outrage, just the latest example of a tone deaf administration. In good economic times, this type of outlandish travel is inappropriate, but especially in this horrible economy, it sends the wrong message.

If Mrs. Herbert Hoover took a trip on the Queen Elizabeth with dozens of her friends and charged the taxpayers of this country, the media of the early 1930’s would have vigorously complained. Today, the only criticism comes from the dreaded world of the Internet and talk radio. The lap dog lame stream media thinks it is just great for the First Couple to act like royalty.

Average Americans think much differently from the lame stream media. Among the media elite, Barack and Michelle Obama are still very popular; however, in real America, the popularity of Obama style politics is plummeting.  While the media constantly bombards us with stories of his accomplishments or her great fashion, the American public is not listening. In fact, as the media reports the President playing basketball with NBA stars or Mrs. Obama lunching with monarchs, the American people are becoming angrier.

Ironically, the media is making it worse for their heroes. The only thing that will help Obama reverse his poor standing is a turnaround in the economy and his policies are preventing a true recovery from ever starting.

In the meantime, there is an ongoing political disconnect with the American people.  The Obamas continue playing the role of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” while Americans live paycheck to paycheck, if they can even find a job. Americans know that the bad economy has been made worse by the President’s policies.

If the First Couple were truly concerned about the plight of their constituents, they would be more mindful of their actions. In contrast, the Obamas don’t consider the American public their bosses, but really their subjects.

They rule over us with their feel good liberalism, espousing unworkable high minded policies for a variety of problems. Unfortunately, none of the Obama agenda is working. For example, the stimulus package was a dismal failure and the healthcare bill is incredibly unpopular in this country.

It seems the administration is purposely pursuing an agenda that is at odds with the wishes of the American public. While media cheerleaders show the President playing basketball or his wife jet setting across the globe, the popularity of the Obama administration only declines more.

The American people have had enough of this presidential partying. The Obamas should understand what they are creating, a climate for the type of political revolution that has not been seen in this country for many years. Of course a revolution is the last thing any real or phony monarch wants to see from his loyal subjects. Does anyone remember King George III?

--
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Do you agree?  Should the Obama's be taking these vacations or such a trip as described?  Or are they behaving like all other US First Couples?  Should they be vacationing in the US instead?  What about on the Gulf Coast?  Tell us below on the Buzzbacks:

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Kerry

Jindal and his followers are like lemmings marching toward the "cliff" next year, unable or unwilling to change course. Unfortunately, they will take Louisiana's future with them when they go over that cliff! Wake up and smell the coffee and chicory!

Demo Dave , August 16, 2010

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Newsflash: Obama and Bush have both treated us like colonies. One hates Black People; One hates White people. We are mere pawns in the great game for the Regime in Washington. I say a pox on both of them! It is well past time for Louisianans, Black and White, to stop drinking the federal Kool-Aide and start supporting secession. We would way more prosperous and secure as an Independent Republic.

To the Devil with Uncle Sam! Free Louisiana!

Shane P Landry , August 12, 2010

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Another silly column from you, Jeff. Did you have the same outrage when President Bush wouldn't leave his ranch in Crawford as Hurricane Katrina approached? Hypocrite!

Dr. Albert Samuels , August 12, 2010

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WS you are an IDIOT!

Everytime you liberals can't make an arguement, you cbring up the racist card. It's getting really OLD! Try bringing some real discussion to the conversation instead of B.S.!!!

To : Mark, You have no freaking idea about what you are blabbering on about! Go back to your idealogical mindless unverse and never come back!

RP , August 12, 2010

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spending money on less important things makes no sense, and leads to cuts in essential services

Even WITH Stelly the problem existed. The problem Mr. Quidd is no different than if you gave 12 charities each 10 percent of your wages. WAIT! 10% times 12 equals 120%!!! hmmmm... Although EACH of these charities may be very very worthwhile, you simply can't afford to give away MORE money than you make. It just ... "doesn't add up." So although healthcare for the poor is a worthy cause, and educating our children is a worthy cause, and preventing UAW workers from having their contracts ripped away by bankruptcy is a worthy cause, (ah...) and foreign aid is a worthy cause (etc., etc., etc.) ... well ... either you see my point or you think I "don't make any sense." My point is simply that government tries to do too much- and in fact (very important Mr. Quidd!) promises far far more than it can actually deliver. Better to not expand university programs (or the number of government employees) during boom times just because we can "afford" it now, only to tax the private sector more and/or layoff these employees (or cut programs when times are leaner). You and I cannot - responsibly - spend-spend-spend money like there's no limit ... and whether you understand it or not ... neither can government (neither “responsibly” nor “sustainably").

Kerry Fox , August 11, 2010

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Not So Fast

It's much more than jobs being lost, which we certainly can't afford. Programs are being eliminated, like the Physics Department of UNO. It makes no sense and neither do you.Loss of revenue is a major cause due to the repeal of the Stelly Plan.

David Quidd , August 11, 2010

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of course it's coming

Cuts are coming - not due to taxes being too low - but rather because the number of state employees is too high, and their pay and benefits are too high (compared to the private sector). That is EXACTLY what European (and many U.S. states) "austerity measures" are: cuts in entitlements, the number of employees, etc. That is the MAIN reason to keep government as lean and small as possible. It isn't greedy CEOs that are causing budget woes, rather it is teachers' unions and other people "living large" off the taxpayers. Sooner or later (i.e. 2011) Obama's "jobs bill" stimulus (actually "bailouts") will stop and THEN, states will really have to make serious cuts. The best way to avoid these cuts is to keep government payrolls as small as needed, that way more money will be available to be spent on education and healthcare. Still, taking care of the "needy" simply cannot be allowed to curtail business activity. If it does it is self defeating as the money to "take care" of things like public education and healthcare comes from the private sector. Without a healthy private sector the money to "do good things" (as liberals define it) is not there. "Not there" ... understand? (probably not, if I had to guess).

Kerry Fox , August 11, 2010

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Stimulus

The Stimulus has saved Booby Jindal's budget the last two years even though he did not apply for the High Speed Rail money and did not take the expanded unemployment benefits. The Stimulus runs out this year, so Jindal's budget goes over the "cliff" next year. If you think education and health care have seen major spending cuts the last two years, just wait til next year.

David Quidd , August 11, 2010

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BS

The stimulus was nothing more than bailouts for unions and enacting "liberal wish list" programs. The only thing it "saved" was ill-conceived policies and practices (which SHOULD be allowed to fail – “misallocation of resources”). The policies of the "progressives" have bankrupted Greece and are threatening to bankrupt many states here as well as the federal government. "Entitlements" are out of control. The day of reckoning will be when we in this country are forced to take austerity measures as Greece and other European countries are currently doing. I seriously doubt if you could get 98% of the population to "man the (red) barricades" with the socialist brothers. It appears that - based on Obama's popularity numbers - there are 35 to 40 % dedicated "progressives" in this country. The rest of us have to work at jobs that actually produce something that people freely part with a portion of their earnings for (instead of being forced by government to support).

Kerry Fox , August 10, 2010

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Well said, Mark.

Well said, Mark , August 10, 2010

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I couldn't have put it better.

Well said, Mark , August 10, 2010

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no sources, no proof

"forty of her closest friends" - not true. Two of her closest friends and several Secret Service agents. Mrs. Obama paid for her and her daughter's flight personally. The stimulus package very likely prevented this country from descending into another depression.

Meanwhile, Republicans want to continue the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Tax cuts which are not paid for. Tax cuts which add billions of dollars to the deficit. Tax cuts which are slated to expire, and return the top tax rate back to 39.6%. In the 50s and 60s -- you know, the "good old days" -- this rate exceeded 70% and America flourished. Now 9.5% are unemployed, but the banksters are richer than ever, the oil and coal men kill & destroy and get off scot-free, and the gated communities shimmer with the insult of opulence as America crumbles around them.

The other 98% of us are coming for you. You're not safe in your gilded palaces.

publius , August 10, 2010

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Mark DID make a good point

Both parties are beholden to big banking and multinational corporations. Obama and his ilk who expand the numbers of people who are dependant - one way or another - on government are not "socialists" but rather short-sighted fools as once the public sector consumes too big a slice of the private sector, the private sector can no longer grow enough to both provide jobs for an increasing population and enough to feed the government as well. See: Greece, California, and New Jersey as but a few examples. Governor Christie of New Jersey and those like him (not necessarily GOP politicians, BTW) are our best hope to get our financial house on a sustainable track, which we certainly are not on now as concerns the unfunded liabilities of most state and the federal government due to "entitlements" that are paid for by a private sector that has an ever harder time meeting the ever-increasing demands of government spending. The problem however is not so much political parties as it is citizens who expect to live off their fellow citizens - not by providing products and services their fellow citizens freely purchase - but rather though government "generosity." That is not socialism, that's more like a parasite who kills its host.

Kerry Fox , August 10, 2010

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Mrs. Obama was actually in Spain for a reason. Google it.

Spain , August 10, 2010

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You should be ashamed

Whoever wrote this article should be ashamed of themselves. GW Bush golfed the whole 8 years he fvcked this country up. Either you're a racist or an imbecile. Either way you should be spit on for talkin crap on our great country. TRAITOR.

WS , August 10, 2010

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Seriously?

Honestly. Who cares, he is the president. Unlike englands BS kings and queens that are BORN INTO THEIR FAKE POWER. The whole world is doing poorly, and before you go putting down our president, why dont you take a look around the world and see that there are far more idiots taking free rides than obama. England is a JOKE. And to you Mark, you are an idiot. We will do what we want, when we want.


Mark, youre an idiot. You think we turned this into a fascist country??? The world is fascist you moron. Theres always gonna be some higher up running things, even in your shiithole country. You dont know anything about our country. The government is one thing, but our country is the greatest. Id like to smack you.

Cali , August 10, 2010

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all the same

The problem with this article is that it tries to make out that only Obama and his wife and crazy elitists and not the other 44 Presidents you guys had. The U.S. is plutocracy and has been for at least 60 years maybe longer. Both parties are the same and neither give a sh*t about any U.S. citizens. They never have and never will. Even the ones they need to vote them in power, they don't care about them either, they just pretend to.

You need a revolution but not against Liberalism or against Conservatism, you need to get rid of both the Democrats and the Republicans. You need to get rid of every incumbent politician and you need to not allow corporations to donate money to electoral campaigns.

All your stupidity and nationalistic bs has caused your country to turn into a sh*t hole and the best part is that you all blame it on each other instead of blaming the government, the elitists and the corporations. The Right blames it on the left, the religious on the secularists, and so on and yet you are all the same and pretty much want the same thing, its just that the people who control you have you all divided and at each others throats. Your founding fathers would be rolling around in the graves if they could how the citizens of the U.S. have allowed their country to turn into a facist state with no regard for the general population or for the Constitution.

btw, I'm a socialist and a libertarian and yes you can be both. And remember to anyone who tries to equate socialism with communism they are not the same. Most Western countries are socialist and have a much higher standard of living than the U.S. Secondly, what your idiots call socialism is really facism. You know, what the Nazis used to do.

Anyways, good luck because I think it's almost too late for any of you morons to do anything about it. I just hope you imbeciles don't kill the rest of us around the world when you guys start World War III as your turn into the New Weimar Republic. The U.S. = the New Nazi Germany.

Mark , August 10, 2010

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This is one of the silliest columns you have ever written. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are going to expire next year and you're willing to say or write anything in a desperate bid to save them. It won't work.

David Quidd , August 10, 2010

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Medieval truism

You can't give a beggar a horse, because he'll ride it to death.

jackamo , August 10, 2010

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royal vacations

It seems obvious that this POTUS does not understand, or for that matter care about, the American worldview. He really appears to be "living the dream" of being
royalty without limits -- and playing it to the hilt. It's nonsensical and pushes him further from the American mainstream. It is evident he does not work for the America of Americans; so who is his constituency -- himself ? ? ?

Prudence , August 10, 2010

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I'm far more concerned about this man's policies than his taking vacations. In fact, he could STAY on vacation ALL the time; that would be just fine by me.

kpf , August 09, 2010

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Jeff, you damn serf. F
Don't you be known we Muslim chieftains be out to make did once great country goes broke

Noladude , August 09, 2010

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