Wish you were here? President spends $1.5m on his holiday in Hawaii... while the rest

[BettorsChat]

Wish you were here? President spends $1.5m on his holiday in Hawaii... while the rest of America faces a bleak New Year

By DAVID GARDNER
Last updated at 9:45 PM on 30th December 2010

President Obama has splashed out more than $1.5million on a sunshine break in Hawaii while many Americans are still struggling in the aftermath of the economic meltdown.
With Washington in a deep freeze, Mr Obama yesterday extended his stay on Oahu until next Monday.
But he is facing claims on the island that he could have been more frugal in his two-week getaway with wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha at a luxury beachfront rental home in Kailua, an upscale resort about 12 miles from the capital, Honolulu.
According to the Hawaii Reporter, the bill for the trip included:
$63,000 on an early flight bringing Mrs Obama and the children to Hawaii ahead of the president.
$1,000,000 on Mr Obama’s return trip from Washington on Air Force One.
$38,000 for the ‘Winter White House’ the president has rented for his family on the beach.
$16,000 to rent beachfront homes for Secret Service and Navy Seals.
$134,000 for 24 White House staff to stay at the Moana Hotel.
$251,000 in police overtime.
$10,000 for an ambulance to be on hand at all times
And those tallies do not include the travel costs of Mr Obama’s staff and Secret Service, car rentals and surveillance operations in advance of the trip, which could easily add up to more than £30,000.


Read more: The cost of a quick Christmas break for U.S. President Barak Obama? That'll be more than £1million | Mail Online

Read more: The cost of a quick Christmas break for U.S. President Barak Obama? That'll be more than £1million | Mail Online

[Spark]

You are starting to see the light a little aren't you Monte. Good for you. Don't wear the blinders.


I saw him waving to the cameras when he was in the ocean and then they said he was extending his vacation. I almost threw up.



Where are the sharks when you need one???

[DBURGH]

So, is he the first president to take trips like this? Help me out?

[DBURGH]

I was curious so I looked it up..

President Obama’s Vacation Days
January 11, 2010
Q: Has President Obama taken more vacation time than his predecessors?

A: According to one count, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush spent more time on "vacation" during their first year than President Obama did. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton spent less time on "vacation."



FULL ANSWER

President Obama has spent all or part of 26 days "on vacation" during his first year as president, according to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Knoller, who has covered every president since Gerald Ford and is known for keeping detailed records on presidential travel, counts the following among President Obama’s "vacations" in 2009:

■A four-day holiday weekend in Chicago in February where the president played some basketball and treated First Lady Michelle Obama to a Valentine’s Day dinner date.
■An eight-day stay with his family at a rented house on Martha’s Vineyard in August.
■ A trip out west to the U.S. states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona that combined both business and pleasure. The president held town hall meetings on health care during the trip. And he went fly fishing and took trips to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon with his wife and two daughters.
■An 11-day stay in Hawaii where the president and his family celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Some of the president’s recent predecessors, however, have spent more days — either entirely or partially — away from the White House "on vacation" during their first year in office.

President Reagan, in 1981, spent all or part of 42 days away from the White House "on vacation" at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif, according to Knoller. President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, also spent three or four days around New Year’s Day each year in Palm Springs, Calif., at the home of philanthropist Walter Annenberg. (In 1993 the late Mr. Annenberg founded the nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which is FactCheck.org’s parent organization.)

President George W. Bush spent even more time away from the presidential mansion in the nation’s capital than Reagan. Of the 77 total "vacation" trips the former president made to his Texas ranch while in office, nine of them — all or part of 69 days — came during his first year as president in 2001, according to Knoller.

[flarendep1]

The same Obama who tells Americans not to spend money in Las Vegas.

Maybe he can check in on Michael Vick while out there. You know, National security is just small potatoes.

[Spark]

The same Obama who tells Americans not to spend money in Las Vegas.
.

While he spends money like a Pimp that only has one week to live

[BigWeiner]

This is a lame post. It costs shit loads of money for any President to go anywhere, so what? Every negative thing I read about Obama is a total joke. These guys won't stop until we have another dumbass in there. Don't fall for it America please.

[DBURGH]

This is a lame post. It costs shit loads of money for any President to go anywhere, so what? Every negative thing I read about Obama is a total joke. These guys won't stop until we have another dumbass in there. Don't fall for it America please.

Thank you.

[BigWeiner]

Thank you.

It's as if all the lame stuff people say about him adds up to something. One thing after the next gets called out, but somehow that adds up to something. Since day one, these guys have been trying to say anything they can to bad mouth him. It's like they're trying to convince the Lions to rehire Matt Millen as their GM, right after they new guy took over.

[buddyluv1968]

Thanks BigWeiner and Dburgh for some common sense... It gets so easy to get distracted and change the conversation to some meaningless shit. Its cost money for any president to travel. Fellas if you want to get something on the president, see if his staff is taking trip that is not necessary...

[BettorsChat]

So, is he the first president to take trips like this? Help me out?

No, he's not. I don't know how much Bush spent on vacation since he was on it 30-40% of the time. I just think it looks bad taking a vacation that costs $1.5 million when the economy is screwed up.

[BigWeiner]

No, he's not. I don't know how much Bush spent on vacation since he was on it 30-40% of the time. I just think it looks bad taking a vacation that costs $1.5 million when the economy is screwed up.

Who cares who spent more money, that's the whole point. It cost money for Presidents to take vacations. It always has and it always will. It's just more junk thrown out there to try to make the President look bad and more importantly help us forget how bad the last one was.

[BettorsChat]

Who cares who spent more money, that's the whole point. It cost money for Presidents to take vacations. It always has and it always will. It's just more junk thrown out there to try to make the President look bad and more importantly help us forget how bad the last one was.

I know this, but at this point with the Economy being so bad I would have taken a much lesser vacation. You know the Republicans are waiting to jump on anything that he does. He needs to take that into consideration. He also needs to get a thicker back bone as I'm getting tired of him backing down on issues so they can get bills passed. I still like him, but this economy is so screwed up it's not even funny. More banks are going under, more job losses etc.

There needs to be a complete over haul of the system. First beginning with doing away with the Big Corps being able to give as much as they want to one candidate which is pure BS!

Second we need more jobs here in the USA so we need to cut back on outsourcing so many damn jobs.

Third the banks need to start lending monies to small business, and people with good credit ratings instead of hoarding the monies that they now have which they made off the tarp monies.

Fourth we need to be exporting more goods. China imports so many goods into this Country its sickening. Then again what do we have to export? Especially since just about everything as been outsourced to over seas companies.

[harold_bush]

Two wrongs don't make a right. How come all you libs answer every Obama criticism with a Bush answer? Can't it be wrong for both? I don't understand the need to defend the indefensible. When people are struggling to keep their homes and put food on the table it is absurd to be spending a couple million dollars on vacation or playing golf every week. Perception is reality to many and it just doesn't look right.

[harold_bush]

White House spokesmen insist Obama's vacation expenses are in line with those of previous presidents, which may well be true, but, since the government refuses to disclose many important details about any presidential journey, nobody can know for sure.

There appear to be reasons to suspect the Obamas' trip could have been done for less, according to Hawaii Reporter.

"They could have chosen a less expensive and more secure place to stay such as a beachfront home on the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station – just a two-minute drive away from the Kailuana Place property where they are now," according to Hawaii Reporter.

"The president visits the military base daily to workout, bowl with his kids or enjoy the more private beach there. He also could have stayed at a home 15 minutes away on the beach fronting Bellows Air Force Base as President Bill Clinton did."

But Obama and friends opted instead to secure use of three luxury beachfront places, including the “Winter White House” – or Kailua home that the president rents two weeks a year.

That facility, Hawaii Reporter, noted, normally rents for an estimated $3,500 a day or $75,000 a month, according to the web site Gadling.com.

The latter describes the place as a “7,000 square foot home [that] features 5 bedrooms, 5 ½ bathrooms, a media room with surround sound, a kitchen suited for a master chef, a dining room and great room, a secluded lagoon-style pool with tropical waterfalls and a lavish island spa. The ocean lanai and garden lanai showcase ornate landscaping and stunning views of Kailua Bay and Mount Olomana.”



Read more at the Washington Examiner: President and family on multi-million dollar Christmas vacation in Hawaii | Washington Examiner