By Kathleen Parker
Observing the Michelle Obama vacation controversy unfold one is of multiple minds.
First thought: Give the lady a break. She deserves a vacation. Who cares that she missed her husbands birthday? Were not children and sometimes the greatest gift is solitude. Here Mr. President you get to enjoy your own space for a few days. Happy birthday. Of such are lasting marriages made.Second thought related to complaints that she spent taxpayer money on an indulgent vacation staying in a five-star hotel in Spain and flying on a military jet with a security detail that some might consider extravagant in these lean economic times. The fact is Michelle Obama doesnt have a say in how she is transported from Point A to Point B. All first ladies are flown with significant security on a jet subsidized by the taxpayers. What is the alternative? Would we really prefer that the presidents spouse never travel or that she be exposed to kidnapping or other attack?
I traveled to the Middle East with Laura Bush in 2007 when she helped promote breast cancer awareness in the United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia and Jordan. We also visited troops in Kuwait as well as a group of women who recently granted the right to vote had run for public office.
The security around that trip was spectacular. Entire roadways were shut down for her passage; snipers were everywhere. Our own plane was loaded with enough artillery and shooters to take over a small country. Our hotels were palaces by Americas Holiday Inn standards. Because the media contingent was limited to three people -- Greta Van Susteren Robin Roberts and yours truly -- we went everywhere the first lady went (at our own or our institutions expense).
Perhaps if the looming economic disaster had been recognized at that point Mrs. Bush would have faced similar criticism. As it was the media hardly took notice of the trip despite the excursions incalculable diplomatic value.
Finally -- and this is probably the correct analysis if not the whole story -- it is August. This is the month when official Washington escapes to cooler climes and thousands of reporters and bored bloggers sift through the detritus of yesterdays news. How better to pass the time than by wondering how the more fortunate are living? This year that includes the president and first lady.
George W. Bush largely escaped scrutiny because his preferred getaway was a place no one else especially the media wanted to go. Crawford Tex. in August? Fabulous.
Whatever else one thinks of Bush he did have a sense of propriety in matters recreational perhaps in part attributable to his life of privilege and attendant guilt. He gave up golf after invading Iraq because he felt it would look bad to be perfecting his swing while those he had consigned to battle were losing their limbs. A token perhaps but a gesture nonetheless.
Perception is everything in politics. And though Mrs. Obama essentially caught some of Augusts free-ranging flak she also chose unwisely.
Is it really such a terrible thing that the presidents wife took a few days off to enjoy the beaches of Spain? Yes and no. Michelle Obamas trip though expensive in the context of our dire financial straits isnt putting a dent in the Treasury. But as a political move it could not have been more out of step with most Americans reality. The obvious reasons include the stagnant job market the depleted fortunes of the middle class millions of lost homes and for many the prospect of an insecure financial future.
A less obvious reason was revealed in a small detail. Reporting for Politics Daily Lynn Sweet wrote that Mrs. Obama traveled to Spain at this particular juncture to comfort a friend whose father had recently died and whose daughter a friend of 9-year-old Sasha Obama (who accompanied her mother) had especially wanted to celebrate her birthday in Spain.
Well what little girl wouldnt?
When many Americans are scraping together pennies to finance a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese the notion that a child must be treated to Spains beaches to celebrate her decade on the planet is a bitter pill to swallow.
On balance the vacation was poorly conceived but hardly a crime befitting the condemnation. Perhaps of more lasting concern is the missed opportunity for the first lady to set an example of restraint and even generosity. I hear the Gulf Coast beaches could use a cash infusion.
kathleenparker@washpost.com
