Hard-hitting LA Times piece: Obama date night a “fascination and inspiration”
posted at 6:40 pm on June 5, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Three jets to ferry all necessary personnel from D.C. to NYC: $24,000. Security detail and associated expenditures, like NYPD protection: Tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars more. “Fascination and inspiration”: Priceless.
The good news? Jon Stewart’s got some new material for Monday.
Our parents did some version of it, cards and cocktails with the neighbors, but our generation had to elevate it to a term of art. And now the impossibly elegant Obamas — he was sleek and tie-less, she wore black — have only raised the bar with a third date night since Inauguration Day.
They flew to Kennedy Airport in a mini Air Force One, (who knew it came in mini?) coptered into Manhattan, ate organic in a chic Greenwich Village restaurant (known to elicit “ecstatic whispering about the quality of summer peas”) and saw a play that didn’t even have any show tunes…
If all this blather about one Saturday night feels like last-week’s jelly doughnuts when everyone else has moved on to Obama’s speech to the world’s Muslims, then why were the tabloids still honking about “President Obama and Michelle’s Picture Perfect Marriage” even as he was en route to Saudi Arabia?…
Seeing the First Couple out once in awhile, holding hands, just might be something for us to aspire to: a table set for two, sport coat, high heels, a real conversation.
Note that this swill, replete with cooing over the progressively chichi organic place they ate at, is filed under “National News.” The goofiest part, I think, isn’t the mindless fawning, it’s the self-deception about what it is they’re fawning over. Supposedly it’s a story about romance but it’s really a story about class, not unlike when world media slobbered over the “storybook” wedding pageantry of Charles and Diana that produced a marriage that wasn’t so storybook. It’s the grandiosity of the gesture, not the gesture itself, that’s captivating. As for that picture perfect marriage, if you believe Olby crony Richard Wolffe, they have something in common with Charles and Di there too. Ah well. Viva elegance!
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So, When’s this guy got time to be president.
Tommy_G on June 5, 2009 at 6:46 PM
…then their successful marriage counseling only cost a few trillion dollars?
calbear on June 5, 2009 at 6:46 PM
When does this elitist turd start putting skin into the game?
foucaultsvac on June 5, 2009 at 6:49 PM
So does this mean that Olbermann is going to give Wolffe the Dana Milbank treatment?
rw on June 5, 2009 at 6:49 PM
To the tune,by INXS!
American taxpayer monies,
ELEGANTLY WASTED,
me really thinks!!
canopfor on June 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Kind of tip toes around those affair rumors, but they’re in there.
BadgerHawk on June 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Hey, man, put on a friggin’ tie.
Y-not on June 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM
As Michelle Antoinette always says, “let them eat arugula.”
Exurban Jon on June 5, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Impossibly? Yes.
Elegant? No.
Nauseating? Definitely.
profitsbeard on June 5, 2009 at 6:52 PM
3 1/2 more years of this…I’m not going to make it…
AUINSC on June 5, 2009 at 6:52 PM
and costing the peasants THE BIG BUCK$….
CynicalOptimist on June 5, 2009 at 6:54 PM
Ditto
Daggett on June 5, 2009 at 6:55 PM
If these writers slurp any harder their ears will cave in.
Patrick S on June 5, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Now Obama is saving marriages. Wow, he’s so talented./
Disturb the Universe on June 5, 2009 at 6:55 PM
I thought the Liberals,less than a few months ago,declared
worst depression ever,since 1929!
A CRISIS!!
Financial Catostrophic,Biblical Porportions,
DoomsDay Scenario!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And,the Obama`s are busy,partying it up!!
Me thinks,theres a disconnect somewhere!!
canopfor on June 5, 2009 at 6:55 PM
can’t
stop
vomiting
I’m disgusted!
blatantblue on June 5, 2009 at 6:56 PM
I can’t give you anything but love, Barry.
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, Barry.
Dream a while, scheme a while,
We’re sure to find
Hopiness and I guess
All the Change we’ve always pined for.
Gee, I think you’re really looking swell, Michelle.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn’t sell, Michelle.
You’re our lucky day
You know darned well, Barry
We can’t give you anything but love.
– The Ga Ga La La MSM
Loxodonta on June 5, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Man, when is the press going to stop fellating this guy?
Blake on June 5, 2009 at 6:57 PM
The LA Times has officially assumed the role of “the wall” from Fahrenheit 451.
Just keep on reading, people. Everything’s f***ing great!!!
Bruce in NH on June 5, 2009 at 6:59 PM
The Presidents lifestyle,how do you say in LiberalSpeak,
oh ya,one of Obama`s favorite words,
‘UNSUSTAINABLE’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
canopfor on June 5, 2009 at 7:01 PM
They need to have their heads checked over at the LA Times they have been creepier than normal lately.
Joe Caps on June 5, 2009 at 7:02 PM
They are welcome to their nights out on the town, but please make the town Washington DC.
Over 30% of my income paid for those planes, and I’m not happy.
unclesmrgol on June 5, 2009 at 7:02 PM
I love that we finally have our own Prince and Princess. Since the death of Di, there has been a vacuum for this. It gives the 10% out of work something to cheer and be happy about*.
* said in attempt to make neocons heads’ explode
dcwvu on June 5, 2009 at 7:03 PM
The shameless adoration of the press simply knows no bounds. This must have been what France was like in 1789 or perhaps Russia in 1917.
Agent of the Cross on June 5, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Didn’t work…we’re immune now.
AUINSC on June 5, 2009 at 7:06 PM
Was that pun intended? “Fahrenheit 451…keep on reading”
Joe Caps on June 5, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Embarrassing, if LAT were capable of embarassment. Instead it’s just pathetic.
Ted Torgerson on June 5, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Does anyone think it is odd that the press is shut out of the president’s meeting with the NCAA Women’s Basketball Champions but needs three planes to make sure the date is fully documented?
Cindy Munford on June 5, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Up next………….
……….. Date Night Czar, because every thing has to be juuuussssst right!
Seven Percent Solution on June 5, 2009 at 7:10 PM
I am sure that all those people out there who are worried about their jobs and mortgage payments really give a rat’s behind.
Terrye on June 5, 2009 at 7:12 PM
Enough of this fluff…let’s talk about some substance. Just for you leftards out there:
http://minx.cc/?post=288223
AUINSC on June 5, 2009 at 7:13 PM
VOMIT!!
milwife88 on June 5, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Sorry. We’ve built up a resistance to your retard ray.
BadgerHawk on June 5, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Well, at least now Netanyahu knows what he needs to do. To curry favor with the American press, he should lose the tie, get the wife into an LBD, and jet off to, oh, call it Mykonos. (Doesn’t get much more impossibly elegant than that, wink-nudge.)
J.E. Dyer on June 5, 2009 at 7:18 PM
“Seeing the First Couple out once in awhile, holding hands”
Funny, when it was Ron and Nancy, the press called it “creepy.”
notropis on June 5, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Disgusting!
WisCon on June 5, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Date Night Czar
Seven Percent Solution on June 5,2009 at 7:10PM.
Seven Percent Solution:LOL,yup,SPS,that will be the newest
expansion,in Hopey’s administration!
——————————-:)
canopfor on June 5, 2009 at 7:23 PM
He’s just the stunt President.
Connie on June 5, 2009 at 7:25 PM
“neocons”…the Left’s most recent “N” word (replacing the “N” word that the Democrat’s senior US Senator, former KKK Keagle Bobby Byrd, used on national TV several years ago. He got a pass, of course.
Del Dolemonte on June 5, 2009 at 7:28 PM
GOD ON A DATE?
Cybergeezer on June 5, 2009 at 7:29 PM
“Orchestrated whining” is it now?
Terry_Dyne on June 5, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Don’t forget……….
……… Rumor has it that the ‘First Family’ including the Mother in Law are planning on taking Paris by storm.
Seven Percent Solution on June 5, 2009 at 7:31 PM
I don’t know what is worse…………
…… reading stuff like this to share with all of you,
Or the reaction that my bodily orifices have afterward…….?
Bon chance.
Seven Percent Solution on June 5, 2009 at 7:35 PM
If this is “impossibly elegant” and
(yes, I get AP’s sarcasm)
then put me down as never, ever, wishing to be elegant again.
Schadenfreude on June 5, 2009 at 7:38 PM
As disturbing as the constant fawning media coverage is, there may be a silver lining. After three years of seeing his face and hearing his voice multiple times per day, what’s the point of going to see him on the campaign trail in ‘11. Human nature dictates that one can only take too much before they become immune or bored. He peaked in St. Louis with 100,000 attendees. He’ll never see those numbers again.
sherry on June 5, 2009 at 7:41 PM
7%, caption for that
Bumpkins take Paris
Vive l’élégance!, indeed. Paris will lose its luster, the little it has left.
Schadenfreude on June 5, 2009 at 7:44 PM
Wow,they really do want a “Camelot II”.
Or maybe they just want royalty?
eforhan on June 5, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Don’t underestimate the capacity of people to be self-destructively stupid.
You have been forewarned.
Schadenfreude on June 5, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Didn’t Limbaugh get made fun of for not wearing a tie at his CPAC speech? I seem to remember someone in the media saying he looked like an Eastern European gangster.
Mark1971 on June 5, 2009 at 7:47 PM
You know, I wouldn’t mind so much if the guy was an idiot making a lot of mistakes. But he’s evil. And he’s deliberately destroying the freedoms people died to protect in order to reshape the US into his socialist utopia.
Daggett on June 5, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Not a care in the world, while unemployment goes up, gas prices go higher and Americans struggle to stay a float.
christene on June 5, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Zeus?
Disturb the Universe on June 5, 2009 at 8:00 PM
For the sake of accuracy.
ThePrez on June 5, 2009 at 8:07 PM
So, for a lousy $24,000 bucks, did Obambi get any? Or, are the taxpayers the only ones to get fudged?
Blake on June 5, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Impossibly elegant.
LOL! I have re-coined elegant in my social circles to mean anything but. Homegirl in a tragic outfit? “ELEGANT.” Someone slobbering all over themselves on accident at dinner? “ELEGANT.” It’s catching on!
So when I read this and hear the Obamas are “impossibly ELEGANT” I just giggle like a schoolgirl, as if I’m in on some joke. If only that were the case.
Note: I treat “classy” in much the same way.
lansing quaker on June 5, 2009 at 8:25 PM
Breaking news: Michelle found to be suffering from LowT
petefrt on June 5, 2009 at 8:27 PM
Last night was family dinner out night and we tried the new Chinese Buffet in the next town over from my daughter’s. Pretty good actually (and 2 of the waitresses there were all over my red haired 1 yr old grandson… The Little Babe Magnet).
-
Anyway, they had TVs mounted around the room and my 3 yr old granddaughter could look right over my head to see one. The news was on, CNN or MSNBC I think.
-
During the election she use to tease my daughter by randomly walking up to her and saying…. O-Ba-Ma then laughing, or repeating, or whatever else her 3 yr mind thought was funny. Well my daughter taught her that saying “Obummer” is also funny…
-
So mid meal an Obama story came on and this little comedian started pointing at the TV and saying (rather loudly) “Obummer, Obummer…” I was so proud as I tried to keep my food in my mouth.
-
You know the old saying… “The family that eats together, laughs at Obummer together.”
-
RalphyBoy on June 5, 2009 at 8:36 PM
I’m trying to remember one of the similar comparable articles the L.A. Time fishwrapper published about George Bush’s relationship with the infinitely classier (than Michelle O) Laura Bush.
Um, nothing’s coming to mind.
Cicero43 on June 5, 2009 at 8:37 PM
petefrt on June 5, 2009 at 8:40 PM
How tone-deaf are these people?! Yes, I aspire to a fancy, elegant date with my husband of 15 years, but I can’t afford it! Because, like almost 2 in 10 Americans who are currently unemployed or underemployed, I have no job! And what money I do manage to scrape up, I have to use to pay my tax shortfall from last year! So, yeah, I’d LOVE to go on a lovey-dovey date like the frickin’ Obamas, but I’m too busy paying for theirs!!!
aero on June 5, 2009 at 8:52 PM
It’s a week later and the press is still talking about it. Just more proof of their bias. Can’t wait until they all go under.
Blake on June 5, 2009 at 9:08 PM
I guess they think if they say enough that Michelle Obama is “elegant”, then she will by some magical operation be elegant. That ungainly, stoop-shouldered woman is NOT elegant.
ddrintn on June 5, 2009 at 9:11 PM
Don`t forget…
Stuff like this….
Seven Percent Solution on June 5,2009 at 7:31,7:36PM.
Seven Percent Solution: I wonder if Michelle Obama and
family have been to Disneyland,
for the first time in her life!:)
canopfor on June 5, 2009 at 9:11 PM
American Pravda. What else can you say.
JellyToast on June 5, 2009 at 9:14 PM
Oh yeah, I’ve really missed puff pieces on rich people blowing money they never earned.
ddrintn on June 5, 2009 at 9:49 PM
I just said the same thing this evening. I can’t look at either one of them. His droning, preaching voice, with the swallowed endings on his sentences makes me want to throw something through the t.v.
If he gets the next four years, figure it will be for the next 40 years. Some how, some way he’ll become a dictator for life, like Castro. All his dreams are coming true, why not that?
UnEasyRider on June 5, 2009 at 10:06 PM
WHAT is WRONG with these PEOPLE?
Seriously!!!
What?
They are POD people. What happened. Why do we have all these pod people?
Alana on June 5, 2009 at 10:30 PM
Sure, “elegant”. So if I took $24K of your money and spent it on a trip in a private jet, could I be elegant too? Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi must be really really elegant!
mph on June 5, 2009 at 10:35 PM
The colonies in 1776.
5u93rm4n on June 5, 2009 at 10:45 PM
What Obama’s really in love with an even fuglier chick?
Caper29 on June 5, 2009 at 11:07 PM
So, taking our cues from the tabloids now? This is the L.A. Times, isn’t it.
Mark V. on June 5, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Queen Michell is slummin in france right now. she missed an appearnace in egypt. Just Muslims. No goo photo shots. My but France she can get more pictures. They stood up sarkozy at dinner tonight. germany flopped for the flipper.
The Euro leaders have Obama pegged as having a suit as empty as it seems to be. FT reports stories the fawning american media can’t share.
seven on June 5, 2009 at 11:26 PM
I would advise her not to invite any more comparisons to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
ddrintn on June 6, 2009 at 1:05 AM
“It’s my sister, Violet. You know, the one with a Mercedes and room for a pony.” -Hiacynth Bucket
Limerick on June 6, 2009 at 2:19 AM
Just look at their faces and body language to see the real story. This is all for public show. They don’t smile at each other much when together. There is no sexual tension there.
These are not two people who are still madly or even happily in love like Nicholas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.
He looks bored like he can’t wait to text Scarlett Johansson or Larry Sinclair or Reggie. /sarc
She just has that angry Michelle look that says “Don’t even go there!”
sarahpalinfan99 on June 6, 2009 at 3:48 AM
Some observations:
1. Even Bill and Hill held hands when the cameras were rolling.
2. When Nancy Reagan looked up at “her” Ronnie, she was ridiculed. (I guess love among seniors was too “yucky” for the MSM.
3. George and Laura had date nights, too, but didn’t use the relatively new term.
4. We’ll see how swell their life is when the girls hit their teens and Michelle hits the change.
Sloan Morganstern on June 6, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Got to congratulate whoever wrote the piece. They were able to do it with one hand busy. Remarkable.
madne0 on June 6, 2009 at 8:29 AM
I know us peons at the 9000 home are taking great vicarious delight in the Obama’s night out (at our expense) while we sit back and watch reruns while eating soup. It’s what we can afford right now.
But, thanks, O, for showing us that you’re looking out for us. Maybe in 20 years or so when we get out of this economic mess, we 9000s can afford a night out.
karl9000 on June 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM
That Charles and Di thing got me to thinking. Y’all recall Michelle O’s remark about how Barack would change all our thinking and change the way our money was used etc(I forget the exact words, but got that as the gist at the time) I’m wondering if Obama is also a controlling husband and father. You know, the old fashioned kind who runs an autocratic household. Bet he is!!
jeanie on June 6, 2009 at 10:04 AM
“Let them eat government cheese and watch American Idol at home!”
They live…we sleep.
Dr. ZhivBlago on June 6, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Of course if a Republican president ever cost the taxpayers $1000, just to have a date night, much less $24K, plus whatever NY and NYC spent, then there would be heck to pay in the media for weeks.
MarkTheGreat on June 6, 2009 at 1:41 PM
MarkTheGreat on June 6, 2009 at 1:41 PM
I may be a couple days late with my comment, but who really gives a f*ck about their date?
la.rt.wngr on June 6, 2009 at 11:38 PM
Oh please, every modern president has personal travel and it’s always expensive. It’s simply part of being president. Bush visited Crawford 77 times at a greater expense than $24,000 (he always took the 747 which costs over $50k an hour to operate) and there’s nothing wrong with that. The president shouldn’t be on house arrest.
jonknee on June 7, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Boy, did they b*tch and moan about it anyway…that’s MarkTheGreat’s point.
ddrintn on June 7, 2009 at 3:39 PM
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