{"id":3496,"date":"2010-08-10T11:31:01","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T15:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=3496"},"modified":"2010-08-12T08:15:26","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T12:15:26","slug":"nile-gardiner-the-obama-presidency-increasingly-resembles-a-modern-day-ancien-regime-extravagant-and-out-of-touch-with-the-american-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/10\/nile-gardiner-the-obama-presidency-increasingly-resembles-a-modern-day-ancien-regime-extravagant-and-out-of-touch-with-the-american-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Nile Gardiner: The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien R\u00e9gime: extravagant and out of touch with the American people"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across this column<\/a> by Nile Gardiner the other day and I’ve been debating on whether to post it or not… I don’t begrudge the President or First Lady a vacation, I do think the optics of Michelle Obama’s extravagant vacation in Spain and the expense to taxpayers look horrible when most Americans are struggling just to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gardiner does offer valid criticism of the political class and the media in this country though, so on balance I think it’s worth posting:<\/p>\n

What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today\u2019s Obama administration were he alive today is anyone\u2019s guess. But I would wager that the author of L\u2019Ancien R\u00e9gime<\/em> and Democracy in Americ<\/em>a would be less than impressed with the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity.<\/p>\n

It is the kind of impunity that has been highlighted on the world stage this week by Michelle Obama\u2019s hugely costly trip to Spain, which has prompted a New York Post<\/em> columnist Andrea Tantaros to dub the First Lady a contemporary Marie Antoinette<\/a>. As The Telegraph<\/em> reports,<\/a> while the Obamas are covering their own vacation expenses such as accommodation, the trip may cost US taxpayers as much as $375,000 in terms of secret service security and flight costs on Air Force Two.<\/p>\n

The timing of this lavish European vacation could not have come at a worse moment, when unemployment in America stands at 10 percent, and large numbers of Americans are fighting to survive financially in the wake of the global economic downturn. It sends a message of indifference, even contempt, for the millions of Americans who are struggling just to feed their families on a daily basis and pay the mortgage, while the size of the national debt balloons to Greek-style proportions.<\/p>\n

Read the rest…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across this column by Nile Gardiner the other day and I’ve been debating on whether to post it or not… I don’t begrudge the President or First Lady a vacation, I do think the optics of Michelle Obama’s extravagant vacation in Spain and the expense to taxpayers look horrible when most Americans are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[57,1043,1044],"class_list":["post-3496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-barack-obama","tag-michelle-obama","tag-nile-gardiner","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-Uo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3658,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/04\/2010-election-wrap-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":0},"title":"2010 Election Wrap-up","author":"Jeff","date":"November 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Well now that the dust has settled a little I thought I'd wade in with my thoughts on the outcome of Tuesday's election. First overall it was good night for Republicans, they picked up 60 seats in the House of Representatives, 6 in the Senate, 6 Governorships and dozens of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":120,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/14\/oh-jeez-the-new-yorker-strikes-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":1},"title":"Oh Jeez… The New Yorker Strikes Again.","author":"Jeff","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've long considered The New Yorker to be nothing more than quasi-intellectual crap and their latest cover does nothing change that opinion. The cover, which is supposed to be satirical spoof of the fears and lies about Obama, depicts Barack & Michelle sharing a celebratory fist bump in the oval\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":698,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/07\/poll-question-who-won-the-second-pesidential-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":2},"title":"Poll Question: Who Won The Second Pesidential Debate?","author":"Jeff","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[poll id=\"8\"] I'm calling it a draw... I though Sen. McCain did much better on the economy and health care than he did in the first debate. He slammed Sen. Obama on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and challenged the assumption that is was deregulation caused the financial crisis. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":885,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/30\/obamas-infomercial\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":3},"title":"Obama’s Infomercial","author":"Jeff","date":"October 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't watch Barack Obama's prime time infomercial last night. Michelle Malkin live blogged it and the Associated Press fact checked it... Apparently I doesn't look like I missed much. Calvin Woodward reports that Sen. Obama\u00a0 \"was less than upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1653,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/10\/breaking-charles-freeman-withdraws-nomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":4},"title":"Breaking: Charles Freeman Withdraws Nomination","author":"Jeff","date":"March 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Via the Washington Independent: Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman\u2019s decision with regret. I'd say something snarky like another one bites\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1816,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/26\/here-it-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":3496,"position":5},"title":"Here It Is…","author":"Jeff","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Two nights ago President Barack Obama said he wanted to see the Republican's budget alternative... Today he got it: H\/T: Michelle Malkin.","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}