Michelle Obama's Excellent Vacations

Hurricane Irene forced the Obamas to cut short their summer vacation near Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It's been reported that the president and his wife for some reason flew to and from Martha's Vineyard on separate jets--on the taxpayer's dime of course. Last August, NY Daily News columnist Andrea Tantaros wrote that "Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette" given the first lady's luxury vacation in Spain, in which she and her entourage flew on a government plane accompanied by a large taxpayer-funded security detail.

Even White House staffers are becoming uneasy according to the Daily Mail in the UK:

White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10 million of U.S. taxpayers' money on vacations alone in the past year. Branding her 'disgusting' and 'a vacation junkie', they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol. The 'top source' told the National Enquirer: 'It's disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage of her privileged position while the most hardworking Americans can barely afford a week or two off work.

As Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr observes, "The first family came in separate planes, and they’re leaving, ditto. Hey, it’s only money, our money."

Can you imagine the outcry if someone like Laura Bush was running up this kind of vacation tab especially with the economy on the skids?