(no subject)

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

Michelle Obama "requires" 26 attendants to take care of her.

No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.

How things have changed! If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:

1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
5. Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
11. Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
14. Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
18. Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
21. Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
22. Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

/snip/

The annual cost to taxpayers for such unprecedented attention is approximately $1,750,000 without taking into account the expense of the lavish benefit packages afforded to every attendant.

Dude. Just look at that payroll. I wonder how many poor families could have health insurance with that money...

Comments

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Well, they could be unemployed too. Think of it as another government jobs plan.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

Naturally, if Laura Bush had something similar, the Left would eat her alive.

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

Actually she did have a pretty big staff of her own, but Mrs. Obama's is bigger. Mrs. Bush should not have been spending so much on her position. That said, I'm not really sure what Mrs. Obama is doing with her staff except to improve herself, whereas Mrs. Bush was very up-front with how she was spending her time both here and on missions abroad, so the argument might be made that at least Mrs. Bush's staff was earning its paycheck as she went around the country and the world promoting doing her charity work. Also, and I know this is taking a page from their play-book, but I thought Obama was supposed to change things, etc. AND we're in a huge recession in which President Obama is constantly blaming the wealthy for their excesses. Hm, isn't having a personal stylist and makeup artist flying around the country with you a bit "excessive," especially when Americans don't have healthcare!?

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. And Michelle Obama is supposed to be, well, better than you and me. Heh. So, yeah, your argument is quite valid.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY

Um, what? Where can I find me a job like one of these?

Seriously, you have no idea how much this burns me, having been out of work for so long. It makes me want to break things.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

I've been looking a job, myself, and I could suck up to a politco like her, right? We could do that, together. Heh.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

It's tempting, ain't it? (Not that anyone's offering, LOL!)

Still, it's not worth it to sell your soul. Darn this thing called scruples!

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

And I'm convinced she'd slap me if she knew me. Heh.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Ok, that just made me laugh. Thank you!

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

I was semi-serious. heh. She's a piece of work, alright.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can't bear to even look at that woman. She's more arrogant than her husband.

[dark-senshi.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure she'd slap most of the people in this community. XDD

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

Wow...think she's trying to be "Queen of America"?

[darth-firefly.livejournal.com]

What, no Secretary/Research Assistant of First Daughters Homework?

Wait... there probably is one...

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

That's the mother-in-law. I wonder how much they pay her...

[darth-firefly.livejournal.com]

'Shut up grandma, you're lucky to have a job!'

Her payment is that they don't ship her off for 'end of life' counseling.

Ooooh, did I just say that???

[blondebaroness.livejournal.com]

If you check on Snopes.com you'll see that most first ladies have extensive staffs.

[spikedpunch.livejournal.com]

Are we sure that this was not part of the "stimulus bill?"

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Well, she DOES need a staff. The sheer numbers of people trying to contact the First Lady and get her to help with this and to attend that is humoungous for ANY First Lady. It's got to be addressed. She's a bit in the situation of an ambassador's or governor's wife; it's ridiculous to say that there are no demands on their time because there are. Mail has to be answered, trips have to be planned, security has to be coordinated, etc. A lot of things shock me with this crowd, but not this.

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

As the article mentioned, though, in the past First Ladies were given nothing at all, to the point that if they wanted a staff they paid for them out of their own pockets. First Ladies then still attended to duties that aren't much different than what they do now. I understand that times have changed but does any First Lady (especially one as, I don't know, uninvolved as this one thus far) need all of this? And at those salaries? I see redundant positions there...like her staff needs its own staff.

In the context of how she and her husband have lived their lives (at one point they were almost bankrupt until President Obama's bookdeal went through), spending lavishly and living above their means, this just seems to fit that pattern. Also, its worth noting how they demonize others who exercise their right to spend their own money how they wish, and this isn't even the Obamas money to spend. Of this staff, the Obamas pay for only two out of their own pockets: the hairdresser and the makeup artist.

[writerspleasure.livejournal.com]

they are our royals.