Conflicting Sentiment Surrounds First Lady's Trip

First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to Spain last week drew criticism from some who felt as though her vacation sent the wrong message to Americans hit hard by a prolonged recession.

The Tribune’s Peter Nicholas remarked on Friday that “the pictures coming out of a sunsplashed Spanish resort…may be sending a different message.” Great Britain’s The Daily Mail reported that Mrs. Obama and her youngest daughter, Sasha, were accompanied by 40 friends, and that the five-day trip cost American taxpayers roughly $75,000 per day.

Chicago Sun-Times White House correspondent Lynn Sweet, however, rebuked some earlier reporting regarding the trip. In particular, Sweet said sources told her that the First Lady only traveled with two other women, and that they each paid for their lavish hotel rooms and other personal expenses. Sweet also wrote that a source told her that Mrs. Obama was invited to go on the trip by Anita Blanchard, a close friend of her’s from Chicago who is married to Marty Nesbitt, the treasurer of Barack Obama’s presidential campagin.

Last week, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded to a question of how the First Lady’s trip would be perceived by Americans. “She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip,” Gibbs said. “I think I’d leave it at that,” he added.

Yet, while Mrs. Obama may not have been elected to office, she is nonetheless a public figure who oversees a major White House initiative on childrens’ health. Sweet echoed that fact in her column today, writing that “it is reasonable to ask how she spends taxpayer resources.”