The Price Of Fame
February 28, 2012 by Ben Crystal
I recently faced an attack from a liberal acquaintance. Given the tendency of most liberals to react to differing opinions with all the restraint of Bill Clinton in the plus-size misses department, I shouldn’t have been surprised at the level of venom spewed forth from this particular individual; but it caught me off guard nonetheless. The fellow objected strongly to my remarking on the hypocrisy that tagged along on first lady Michelle Obama’s vacation to the spectacularly wealthy ski resort of Aspen, Colo.
The individual in question was outraged — outraged, I say! — that I would dare to besmirch Obama’s good name, even suggesting I was suffering from something he called “Obama Derangement Syndrome.” (Author’s aside to liberals: “Obama Derangement Syndrome?” Cribbing Rush Limbaugh? I thought you liberals fancied yourselves the creative types.) I’m going to assume that the symptoms of ODS include an inability to ignore liberal arrogance and hypocrisy, accompanied by the urge to make remarks that liberals find entirely acceptable except when they’re directed at their own masters.
Suffice it to say, this cat’s claws came out sharp. He thought tagging the first lady with a political barb was unacceptable. To him, and to the rest of the legion of liberals who read the Personal Liberty Digest™ on a regular basis, I say: She seems to enjoy the spotlight, and you all can’t seem to get enough of shining it on her; hotter than you expected, isn’t it?
During the Presidency of George W. Bush, his twin daughters made themselves a virtual staple of the political comedy circuit. To be fair, when the first daughters forced their Secret Service detail to stand outside the 7-Eleven while they tried to eyelid-bat the clerk into letting them buy a 4-pack of Bartles & Jaymes®, even smarmy little bridge trolls like Janeane Garofalo got to join the fun. Now that the Oval Office occupant meets with the liberals’ approval, the first family has evidently fallen off the “approved for mockery” list.
Obama makes the talk show circuits, attends the multimillion-dollar fundraisers, smiles at us from the covers of half the glossies in the supermarket checkout line and tells us to “Move it!” She has become a fashion icon, and she mingles with the wine-and-cheese set wearing dresses that cost more than the average family’s car. She proudly wears the robes, but we’re expected not to notice how poorly they fit.
In Aspen, she and the kids stayed at the multimillion-dollar home of a multimillionaire Democratic sugar daddy and Barack Obama crony. The first family’s Christmas trip to Hawaii involved two different planes, as did their trip to Martha’s Vineyard. And the cost of her trip to Spain could have covered the bills for the private planes Al Gore uses to shuttle between his science fiction conventions. (All right, that last one isn’t true. Jet fuel is expensive.)
You want to enjoy the trappings of power and wealth? Have at it. We conservatives have no interest in denying anyone success. But don’t turn around and tell us only you deserve it. To put in a parlance many of your liberal millionaire and billionaire cronies ought to recognize (having heard it more than once, I’m sure): That sort of thing is unseemly, Madame.
God forbid anyone suggest that the first lady — being such a strong woman — should ever take the back seat to her husband. But perhaps the President might suggest her next vacation involve a visit to a knock-off theme park and an outlet mall. All those caviar-and-champagne photo ops don’t translate particularly well to the majority of us who party with hot dogs and beer.
Liberals insist the rest of us show the same deference to Obama that they denied the Bush daughters, their grandmother (Barbara-Bush-looks-old jokes. Brilliant!) and even Sarah Palin’s Down Syndrome-afflicted son Trig. Yet, women to whom they object politically (Palin and Michele Bachmann come to mind) have been subjected to savagery that ought to involve a prison sentence. At least Palin and Bachmann put their money where their mouths are. If Obama wants to act like Marie Antoinette, she’s going to have to eat the cake.
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