Posted on 03/15/2011 8:31:41 PM PDT by kristinn
While American ally Japan faces the world's worst nuclear power disaster in decades on top of a 9.0 earthquake and apocalyptic tsunami, the Middle East is in flames and the U.S. facing bankruptcy, Barack Obama is trying yet again to take his daughters on a taxpayer funded Spring Break trip overseas.
Last year, Obama scheduled a family trip with no diplomatic importance to Indonesia and Australia timed to his daughters' Spring Break from the elite Sidwell Friends School. That trip was cancelled at the last minute, which still cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in squandered advance planning expenditures, when Obama was pressured by Democrats to stay in Washington for the healthcare bill debate in Congress and then cancel the trip again to deal with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico months later.
This year, Obama is jetting off to Rio de Janeiro with the wife and kids on another trip timed to the girls' Spring Break at Sidwell Friends which begins on Friday, March 18. The Obamas head for Brazil that evening according to the White House (via The Chicago Sun-Times:
"On Friday evening, the First Family will travel to Brasilia, Brazil."
Obama will spend Saturday in Brasilia.
The Miami Herald reports on Obama's schedule in Rio on Sunday:
Next Sunday the president will be in Rio de Janeiro where he is expected to visit Corcovado, the peak where the landmark statue of Christ the Redeemer towers over the city, and a favela – one of the many makeshift settlements that sprawl across the hills of Rio. The military and police have recently been engaged in a pacification program to retake the favelas from drug gangs and other criminals.
Obama is expected to devote part of the day to family time but it is possible he will make a major address in Rio."
The Obamas will then head to Chile and finish the trip with an overnight stay in El Salvador.
The Obamas are scheduled to return to the White House on the 23rd. Sidwell Friends Spring Break ends on the 28th.
The Obama administration faced down questions today about the appropriateness of the trip given the global situation. Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, "He is the president of the United States. There are major issues all the time that a president has to contend with, which is one of the reasons why he has such a substantial support framework around him when he travels."
Spring Break for the Obama Globe Trotters and Spring Broke for us.
Now Kristinn, to be fair, Obama heard that the Brasilians erected a statue in his honor on Corcovado Mountain. /sarc
:->
hmm, the party never ends for them does it? Bush was ridiculed for being in a classroom on 9/11, and zero is partying away while our country and the rest of the world are disintegrating....
Can anyone imagine the MEDIA HOWLING if Bush had done this?
The man gave up golfing COMPLETELY.
Just WOW!
Rome burns and Obama goes on vacation.
Blame it on Rio
Remember when that 60 min guy asked him about the huge drop in stock market valuations? He flamboyantly LAUGHED to show how blase he was about it, then got asked if he was PUNCH DRUNK.
Aloof and remote.
Louis XIV with the high-heels, cane, and HUGE curly wig...
O BARRY O, WHERE ARE YOU?
Tune: “Car 54, Where Are You?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAPtM6Q_mwA
There’s an earthquake in Japan
Bahrain’s broken out in fights
There’s a dollar jump per gallon
Gas is up to record heights
There’s a Russian getting riled
Now Khadafi’s running wild . . .
O Barry O, where are you?
“I can still hear the merciless shrieking of the enemedia if G.W.B. so little as took a weekend off at the Crawford ranch.”
You got that right. No mention of this on our local Chicago news. Just a cheery announcement that our gas prices are on the way down—they were down “one cent” today. Unbelievable....they will do anything to cover for this guy.
At this point, I think I would take Carter over Obama, at least Carter was trying to make things better. Obama is more interested in playing golf and vacationing then governing. Obama sucks as a leader and he knows it and doesn’t care. I guess he thinks “It is good go be the King”.
Disconnect goes beyond words.
Obama’s learned from last year. He’s planned speeches and trade meetings on this trip to account for his time.
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