By Dr. Paul L. Williams ——Bio and Archives--August 17, 2009
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”The sad part is that after billions spent "stimulating" the economy, the list of new staffers for the wife of our pretend president represents the only new jobs that have been created. We're screwed.”Laurie from Texas:
”....and not a one of those attendants can help her find something decent to wear...pathetic waste of taxpayer money.....”Terry from Colorado:
”This is from the family that supports a government run health care system. If they can't control the spending inside the White House, how can we believe they can save money elsewhere?”Lanette from California:
”This is OBAMANABLY!!!! I've been laid off....wonder if she will hire me?”Bobby from Shanksville:
”I didn't see anyone listed who wipes her ####.”Lyle from Ilinois:
”This is a crime. I am sure not one of those aides comes close to earning what they are paid. How could they? What is there for them to do? I can't believe Michelle will end up being a great first lady regardless how many aides she has. How will she ever survive at the end of his four-year term when she has to go back to being a civilian again. No way will the government pay for all these lackies for a civilian, no matter how hard she may try to make it happen. I recall a high school English teacher saying "like begets like" and it sure shows up with the Obama couple. They're both in it for as much as they can get for themselves.”Michelle from Michigan:
How can my nephew, who has been out of work for almost a year, get a job on Michelle's staff? The pay is better than anything available here and he is colleged educated.Betty from Pennsylvania:
My husband and I have worked hard all our lives. We are people of integrity. And yet when I read of spending like this my blood boils. How dare she use my hard-earned money like this. How dare she take advantage of her position. She did not earn her position because of who she is or how hard she has worked. I don't know how she can sleep at night. Somehow, we need to get this President out of office before we lose all our rights.The allegations within the July 7 article seemed so outrageous that many readers questioned their accuracy. Does Mrs. Obama have an unprecedented number of staffers in a time when 34 million Americans - - a record number - - rely on food stamps to feed their families? The answer, as D’Angelo Gore of factcheck.org discovered, is yes. When questioned by Mr. Gore, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Michelle Obama’s press secretary, said that the First Lady does retain a staff of more than twenty who remain at her beck and call. But the actual number is 24, not 22, as the article reported. Mrs. Lelyyeld failed to provide the names of the two additional attendants to Mrs. Obama. But she did confirm that six staffers who do not have "first lady" in their title but are a part of the First Lady’s office staff, such as Desiree Rogers, who bears the title “Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary,” and Natalie Bookey, who is listed as a “staff assistant.” What’s more, even a list of 24 would be incomplete since it would fail to include the names of makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom travel aboard Air Force One and provide Mrs. Obama with daily attention. This adds up to a whopping $1,600,700.00 and the amount doesn’t include the elite benefit packages granted to the White House staff and their significant others (include same-sex partners). Nor does the figure take into account the salaries for the two additional full-time staff members mentioned by Mrs. Obama’s Press Secretary nor the full time hair-dresser and makeup artist assigned to her. A guesstimate of the total salaries for Mrs. Obama’s attendants is $1,750,00.00 plus the additional benefits. For comparison, let’s remember that poor Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salaries for 5 of their personal secretaries from their own pocketbooks. Stephen Plotkin, reference archivist for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, says that Jacqueline Kennedy’s office was "headed" by one person who supervised a staff of approximately nine full and part time workers (including the White House cooks and chambermaids). Kim Coryat, an archives technician at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, says that it is difficult to nail down a precise count of staff because "White House staffing for all offices ebbs and flows with time." But she points out that a White House telephone directory indicates that Hillary Clinton had a staff of thirteen in 1993 - - this is telling since Mrs. Clinton intended to serve as a co-executive in the Oval Office by spearheading a health care reform program. Laura Bush was far from a fiscal conservative during her time in the White House and, like her husband, served to bloat the White House budget. A list of Mrs. Bush’s staff attendants is as follows:
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Paul L. Williams, Ph.D., is the author of such best-selling books as The Day of Islam, The Al Qaeda Connection, Osama’s Revenge: The Next 9/11, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Crusades and The Vatican Exposed. An award-winning journalist, he is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR.