While President Barack Obama are enjoying an Obama family Christmas in Hawaii for the fifth straight year, federal and local taxpayers will wake up on the December 26, 2012 without a solution to the fiscal cliff but another $4 million will have been added to the nation’s debt for security and travel expenses to an exclusive retreat on the island of Oahu; that money represents the annual taxes Obama wants to hike for 1238 families; perhaps to pay for his next family vacation.
Obama dedicated transport: Air Force One landed in Honolulu after consuming $1,635,813 taxpayer dollars awaiting another $1,635,813 for the return flight. Obama and the first family were quickly driven by limo along with a 22 Secret Service vehicles to their vacation home in the beach town of Kailua, on the scenic Southeastern shore of Oahu. While the Obamas will pick up the price of their own accommodations, taxpayers will bear the costs of security and travel.
According to the Hawaii Adviser, “While many residents welcome the first family, others are disheartened by the restrictions put on air, water, and road travel while the president and family are in town, especially because it is the holiday season and many families on vacation want to use their boats or surf and paddle in the welcoming ocean waves fronting the Kailua homes; in addition, the president’s caravan of at least 22 vehicles, including an ambulance, can easily overwhelm the community that typically has single lane streets.”
No one begrudges the Obama’s privilege to take a family vacation for Christmas, but it does little to send an uplifting message to the millions of Americans that are frozen, literally, with concerns over the fiscal cliff while observing millions of dollars being expended to provide the Obama’s a vacation more than 6,000 miles from the White House. While Obama’s job often requires he travel to far-away lands, a Christmas family get-together could easily have been had at Camp David, especially given the budget crisis America’s families are enduring and the possibility of the largest tax increase in American history surfacing on January 1, 2013
What other things could be done with that $4 million that would show Obama’s concern for the state of the country? You could rebuild 24 homes in the worst affected areas of Hurricane Sandy; you could provide school lunches to 930 students for one year; you could issue grants to local governments earmarked for school security; you could offer $1.5 million in restitution to the family of Brian Terry whose life was lost due to the Administration Fast & Furious scandal; the list goes on and on. Right now the single issue most dominating the news is a solution to the fiscal cliff and Obama won’t find it sunning on a beach in Hawaii.
If only Obama’s trip would give him some perspective on the issues threatening America’s families it might be money well spent; but since this is his fifth trip in five years to Hawaii and none before has changed his view of the little folk, don’t expect he’ll experience an epiphany this time.
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