GOP, you have to be kidding me, right?

Ragging on Barack Obama for going on a date with his wife via government-provided transportation?

You should be ashamed of yourselves!

What’s the President of the United States supposed to do to get from D.C. to the New York City? Peter Pan Bus Lines?

Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama went to New York City this past weekend to enjoy dinner and a show. The two ate dinner in the Village and saw a show in Times Square called “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”

Of course, the Republican National Committee was all over this, clamoring that the President was too insensitive to the worries and concerns of most Americans who were struggling due to the economy. They criticized him for going to see a show in Manhattan while GM was prepping for bankruptcy in Detroit. And as most Republican arguments of the time do, they focused on the fact that the President “wasted” taxpayer money by having to take a private plane and Marine One in order to get to their date.

As for their argument concerning Obama’s desire to take some time off while, yes, the rest of the world continues to live on, I do not even feel the need to address that.

However, the notion that the President somehow wasted taxpayers’ money is ridiculous. Do we really want to go there people? What would you have liked him to do? It’s not as if the President is free to go transporting himself all around the country at his own discretion. People have to travel with him, people have to watch over him, and he has to remain in a state of limited accessibility at all times. It just kind of goes with the territory of being President.

Of course, those against Obama’s “extravagant” trip could say that he could have opted out of it for the benefit of the taxpayers. The estimated $24,000 in travel cost that taxpayers fit the bill for is clearly not going to set America all the way back to the days of The Depression?

Oh wait. What? We’ve already reached that point? Damn!

Seriously. As if the American taxpayers will ever suffer from this $24,000. That’s how much taxpayer money GM uses in half-a-second.

Let’s not get bent out of shape over something not worth crying over. The man wanted to take his wife out, he followed proper protocol to do it, and it just so happens that it cost $24,000 to maintain the safety and wellbeing of the Presidency. So unless you’re advocating a dormant, driving-distance lifestyle for the most powerful man in the world, then I suggest any doubters out there (GOP) stop crying over milk that wasn’t even spilled. Besides, that last guy to man the Oval Office was known for taking a vacation or two, and I didn’t see him being publicly indicted for using up his Presidential Frequent Flyer miles.

Leave a Reply