The Border? The Mideast? Scandals? For The Obamas It's Luxury Vacay Time Again!!

 

Now isn't this precious! The Obamas and a crew of their very special invited guests are planning a 16 day luxury vacation at Martha's Vineyard on a $12 million, 10-acre forested estate with expansive water views of Vineyard Sound on the southwestern corner of the island. The house will have to be altered for security and communications facilities, and then returned to its former condition. That could cost $150,000 and up alone, based on similar jobs like this done for other trips.

From August 9 to August 24 they'll be camped out at the 8,100-square foot beachfront home of a heavy Democrat donor that includes an infinity pool and hot tub, plus a basketball and tennis court.Valerie Jarret, of course will be among the ones in attendance.

A total of 12 smaller houses have been rented for the not quite so favored and the help on the tony island resort during high season..not cheap, although the White House isn't revealing the cost. The average on the island in August is a mere $400-$500 per day. For a dozen houses,lets split the difference and say $8,000 per day, or a total of around $150,000 since the staffers normally get there a few days before the president.

And then, there's security. We can't have gawkers or the non-connected interfering with the Obamas' fun, now can we?

Figure at least 50 Secret Service agents, plus a number of Navy and Coast Guard ships that will be on hand as well.The Secret Service all have vehicles ( normally at least 20 based on the usual size of the presidential entourage, so that means Air Force One plus military transport aircraft which usually includes two VC-25As and a C-130. There is usually also a chartered press plane to bring along additional journalists. Air Force One alone costs $68,000 an hour to run, so figure over $400,000 round trip just for Air Force One, plus the same for the identical backup Air Force One 747 (that's right, there are TWO of them). Figure at least another $75,000 per plane for maintenance, so close to just over a million for the two Air Force Ones alone. The other planes add up to at least slightly more than that...let's call it two million five in all. That doesn't include food and beverages, something the Obamas and their guests are normally pretty free with according to documents obtained on other trips by Judicial Watch's FOIA suits.

Obviously the number and type of ships guarding the president is highly classified. I think assuming something like 15-20 ships including submarine and Coast Guard launches is probably pretty close to correct.Operation costs for military vessels vary according to size and type. A modern sub, for instance, costs about $55,000 per day to operate. If there are two of them, one for each side of the island, we're talking almost $2 million for eighteen days, just for the subs.Smaller destroyers cost about $150,000 per day, so a pair of those might run between $2 to $2.5 million. For the entire vacay, I would not be surprised if the naval ships cost between $5 million and $10 million for the 18 days they'll be on duty.Let's say $6 million, which is probably on the low side.

We're up to $8.8 million. And we haven't figured in food, gas, entertainment, greens fees, communications charges or a myriad of other miscellaneous expenses. I figure the entire romp will cost the taxpayers at least $10 million, probably more.

Just for comparison purposes, Mrs. Obama's previous luxury romp in Spain cost close to half a million of your tax dollars, and according to the UK Daily Mail, Judicial Watch reports that it cost more than $11 million for President and Mrs. Obama to travel to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial service in December, where the president and his wife and their entourage were in Africa for less than 13 hours.

No one has even begun to calculate the cost  of the luxurious China  vacation Michelle Obama took  with her mother and assorted hangers on that was actually billed as an official trip  believe it or not, even though no official business was conducted.

And the most fun part of all? Guess who's paying for it? We are! Now there's something to think about as you're trying to figure out whether you can swing the price of gas, meals at McDonalds or Carrows and a couple of nights in a Motel Six to take your own family out for a long weekend this summer or whether its going to be another staycation at home.

But for the Obamas, its Bluto Blutarsky's motto all the way: "Take it. Don't cost nuthin'. "

 

At least, it don't cost nuthin' for the Obamas!


But let's not be too critical. The president needs to rest up from his fundraising and campaigning for his fellow Democrats. That speech he always gives, the class warfare one at each stop ranting about the awful “1 percent,” the greedy “rich” (you know, anyone making $200,000 who's not working in government) and those do-nothing Republicans in congress must take a lot out of him.

(***BIG FAT NOTE*** Yours truly edited the above part of this piece after being notified by some of the usual trolls in the comments section that I had been punked by a SATIRE SITE. Yes, even the trolls serve a purpose sometimes. The part about the vacay is true, but the former numbers were so ludicrously off I should have known. Doesn't happen often, but I had a pretty big laugh at myself at how I fell into this one! Mea culpa.

So I researched what the likely costs would be for a presidential vacay in  a place like Martha's Vineyard, the  actual cost of operating the aircraft, renting auxiliary properties and the cost of operating the naval vessels.Of course, the trolls missed the forest for the trees, like always  -  that at a time when our economy is actually shrinking, so many are in want  and there are so many major problems to deal with, it's a selfish, indecent  and  classless move to go on a luxury vacay of this sort. That part was right on the money, and they of course ignored it. We now return to our regularly scheduled program )

Ah, but what about BUSH! Didn't HE go to that satanic ranch of his in Crawford all the time. HUH!?!



I hate it when the insane Left makes me defend a mediocre president like George W. Bush. Although of course he looks good, you know, in retrospect to some people.

The Bushes spent a mere fraction of what the Obamas have spent on vacation, and there's a simple reason why. Rather than renting a different house each time in a high cost resort, almost of of their vacations were spent in one of three places - at the family home in Crawford, at Camp David or at a family compound in Maine.

When a president goes on vacation, the biggest costs involve Air Force One, the subsidiary aircraft for staff and the Secret Service and accommodations for them.And the extensive changes to any property so the computer and communications networks are encrypted and secure and can be used successfully by the president in case something comes up, or simply if a decision needs to be made while he's on vacation.

In the case of the Bushes, two out of three of these location already had the communications networks and accommodations for the Secret Service and staff already in place on the premises, Camp David ( which doesn't even need to be flown to, so no Air Force one expenditures) and the Bush Compound in Maine, because of George HW Bush's presidency. The Bush family home in Crawford had to have these facilities prepared precisely ONCE, after George W. Bush became president. The only further expenditure for Crawford in 8 years was the flight time and the phone bill.

Now, in the case of the Obamas, they stay in different high priced digs each time where similarly high priced accommodations have to be found for the Secret Service, staff and help each and every time. And each and every time whatever mansion they're staying in has to be refurbished for security access and to accommodate the computer systems, surveillance cameras and communications networks needed...and then repaired and returned to their original condition when the Obamas leave...at literally millions in government expense, of course.

The Bushes weren't exactly high livers compared to the Obamas either. There was nothing like some of the gaudy spectacles we've seen since the Obamas came to town. And no one ever saw Mrs. Laura Bush sporting high fashion designer gowns at gala White House events.

There's no way of working it out besides hearsay from people who have served both presidents, but the overall impression we get is that President Bush spent a great deal more work time on his vacations than Barack Obama ever has. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was true.

Oh, and one more thing. President Bush was an enthusiastic golfer, just like our current president. But he gave it up entirely once we went to war after the invasion of Afghanistan. To paraphrase the president's own words, he didn't want some mother or wife of an American soldier in harm's way to see her president playing golf when their loved ones were in danger.

That showed a certain amount of empathy and class. We have a very different kind of man in the White House now.

And speaking of empathy and class, I also seem to remember that during the Depression, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt weren't ones for ritzy parties, high fashion and expensive vacations either...and they could have afforded to pay for such things themselves, let alone getting them on the government dime. Whatever one thinks of their politics they were, essentially, decent human beings who had a sense of what living it up during war and depression would look and feel like to their fellow Americans.

 

As much as I might disagree with some of her views, Mrs. Roosevelt was an amazing human being and exactly the First Lady the country needed during depression, hardship and war. She flew all over the country at a time when flying wasn't anywhere near comfortable as it is now, and she went to the slums, the mines and the small towns left without hope to let the American people know that someone in Washington knew what they were going through and actually gave a damn. Franklin couldn't walk, so she became his legs.

And when war came, she ran herself ragged visiting the troops, selling bonds and comforting Gold Star mothers who had lost loved ones. She would have been outraged at the idea of spending millions on vacations or prancing around in designer clothes.



And FDR? His vacations consisted of therapy and playing pater familias at Warm Springs, going to Camp David and the odd yacht cruise for a day, a special relaxation for an old sailor.



 

Again, they were very different people than the current inhabitants of the White House. They were by no means perfect, but they came to give, not to take.