Michelle Antoinette?

News reports indicate that, because Michelle Obama polls better than her husband, the Democrats are planning to use her in the current election cycle to support candidates who may not want to be associated with the President. That being the case, her Spanish vacation with 40 close personal friends and her younger daughter seems doubly odd.
There is nothing wrong with expensive vacations, of course, especially when many of the costs are being picked up by the Obamas and their guests. But the taxpayers’ share of the trip is costly too, and the level of well-publicized luxury being enjoyed by Mrs. Obama and her entourage resulted in a New York Daily News columnist likening her to Marie Antoinette. Whether fair or not, it should come as no surprise that news accounts of the fabulous vacation, complete with photos of police shutting off a section of beach so that Michelle and her party can frolic in isolation, rub some the wrong way.
Which caused Roger Simon to return to his theory that Barack Obama doesn’t really want to be President:

Michelle’s $375,000 Spanish vacation — with the Daily Mail dubbing her a “modern-day Marie Antoinette” — is further proof of my thesis. What man who wanted to be re-elected (or see his party do well in November) would let his wife go off on such an “excellent adventure” in these economic times? … It is beyond tone deaf, perhaps to the level of subconscious (or even deliberate) self-sabotage.
At the very least, something most peculiar is going on. The first lady goes off on a jaunt worthy of 18th Century aristocracy at the very moment of her husband’s birthday. Is somebody trying to tell us something? Is somebody trying to tell her spouse something? Or vice-versa? Who knows? You won’t find out in the mainstream media — that’s for sure. They don’t even bother to check Obama’s college records. Perhaps the National Enquirer is on the case. They may be the only hope.
If I were still a member of the Democratic Party, I would be most concerned.

Roger speculates that the Obamas’ behavior may be symptomatic of narcissism, then offers this alternative:

But maybe it’s simpler. Maybe Michelle and Barack just assume the president is not going to be re-elected, so why bother to keep up pretenses?

All very provocative. But, while it seems clear that President Obama enjoys campaigning and hobnobbing a lot more than he does governing, it is hard to imagine him giving up after one term. I think the Obamas’ tone-deafness, which was on exhibit long before Michelle’s Spanish vacation, more likely results from their inexperience and the fact that if you are a significant figure in Democratic Party politics, you spend a great deal of time with rich people. That can skew one’s perspective.

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