Presidential Parasitism to the Obscene

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama went to Los Angles last week. The trip didn’t involve any official presidential duties or responsibilities. Instead, the sole purpose was to facilitate their appearances on TV talk shows. The president appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel live show on Thursday night. The First Lady appeared in a taped performance Thursday on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

One might properly think that the producers of those TV shows paid the travel and accommodation expenses for their famous guests who come to entertain their audiences just like they do for all others who agree to make guest appearances which benefit they and their sponsors.

If you thought that you would be wrong. It was the American people who picked up the entire tab – the taxpayers -- you and me. 

And that’s not all. Though the first couple was scheduled to be in Los Angeles on the same day and at the same time, they actually travelled on separate planes. Yes, separate flights from Washington D.C. to L.A. on the very same day.

That’s right. The president flew on Air Force One, his huge private jumbo jet, at a cost to the taxpayers of about $228,000 per hour of flight time. Michelle’s private plane operates at a cost of around $28,000 per hour. So the taxpayers are stuck with a bill totaling well over a million dollars for a one day frivolous excursion to California to appear on entertainment TV talk shows.

Meanwhile, it is reported that former president Bill Clinton, who has raked in more than $106 million in speaking fees alone since 2001, has sucked up another $16 million more from the American taxpayers since leaving office. Ex president, George W. Bush, another wealthy man in his own right, has lapped up $14 million in taxpayer largesse since he left office.

They’re not worth it. It’s outrageous. 

We the people are getting screwed.  We shouldn’t stand for it.

These are just more of many egregious examples of presidential parasitism to the obscene.