Monday, August 9, 2010

Michelle Obama’s Recent Vacation – Too Lavish?

By Andrea Kunicky

First lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha just returned back from a vacation in Spain that drew some backlash in the United States. Michelle is under fire for a trip to Spain that included expensive hotel rooms and trips. There was also supposedely a bill that came out of US taxpayers dollars for the Secret Service, which was reportedly close to $250,000.

Mrs. Obama's trip is getting a less than a warm reception in the United States because we are experiencing some tough economic times. The five-day trip took Michelle and Sasha to the southern part of the country, where they visited beautiful coastal towns, did some shopping and even had lunch with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. They stayed at the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna, where rooms range anywhere from $400 to nearly $7,000 per night, a high price for extravagance that many are saying is insensitive with the country is in such a terrible recession.

The White House defended the first lady's vacation, noting that the Obama’s paid their own way for the trip. White House adviser David Axelrod said the criticism was overblown, telling The New York Times, "Folks in the public eye are also human beings."

In my opinion, this trip during an economic recession was probably not the smartest move on the Obama’s part, but I feel that we have much more to worry about. Everyone is entitled to a vacation, whether we are a working class citizen or the first lady of the United States. She wanted to spend some quality time with her daughter so we can’t deny her that.

This should die down soon enough, to where we can focus on subjects that are far more important than a mini vacation for a mother and daughter.

Andrea Kunicky is an Account Executive. Contact her at andrea@maroonpr.com.

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