Week Long Family Holiday: Only $100 Million

The Obama family is going on a well deserved one week holiday vacation to Africa next week at the bargain basement price of only $100 million dollars.

Of course the family needs a modicum of protection from the legions of enemies of the United States out there on the savanna, so their government handlers decided to bring along, among other things, a squadron of military fighter jets; a Navy ship with a full hospital trauma center; enough military cargo planes to bring 56 vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bullet­proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay; and hundreds of Secret Service agents.

When it comes to the safety, convenience, comfort and peace of mind of the President of the United States and his family on holiday, the nation simply cannot afford to take any chances. No reasonable expense must be spared.

The Obama’s have magnanimously agreed, however, to cancel their original plans to go on a safari because it would have required the additional expense of a full military sharp-shooting sniper team to protect them against the likely possibility of cheetah’s, lions or other wild animals wanting to eat them for breakfast.

A similar Africa excursion for President Clinton in 1998 cost the American taxpayers only $42.7 million – not including Secret Service expenses, so apparently inflation is responsible for more than doubling the price for presidential Africa trips in just 15 years. That’s alright. We can afford it.

You see, we have to look at these trips as an investment in diplomacy and long term good will toward Americans which clearly outweighs the trivial expenses involved. It will make the African people love us. That alone is worth more than $100 million, isn’t it?

“When you travel to regions like Africa that don’t get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very long-standing and long-running impact from the visit,” explains Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

While the First Family is enjoying their week long holiday, the president’s Internal Revenue Service will be paying its National Treasury Employees union members well deserved bonuses totaling roughly $70 million dollars, another bargain for the American taxpayers who appreciate all the hard work the IRS agents do for us.

That’s what the Obama administration does best: saving the American taxpayers money.