Hi All,
For only the second time in my adult life, I am not
ashamed of my country. I want to thank the hard
working American people for paying $242 thousand
dollars plus additional expenses for my vacation
in Spain. My daughter Sasha, several long-time family
friends, my personal staff and various guests had
a wonderful time.
Honestly, you just haven’t lived until you have stayed
in a $2,500.00 per night suite at a 5-Star luxury
hotel. We only booked 70 rooms for our friends,
staff and family. Thank you also for the use of Air Force
2 and the 70 Secret Service personnel who tagged
along to be sure we were safe and cared for at all times.
Air Force 2 only used 47,500 gallons of jet fuel
for this trip and carbon emissions were a mere 1,031
tons of CO2. It costs only $11,500 per hour to operate
Air Force 2 and each additional plane for the other
members of our party group. These are only rough
estimates, but they are close (who’s counting?). That’s
quite a carbon footprint as my good friend Al Gore
would say, so we must ask the American citizens
to drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars and drive
less too, so we can lessen our combined carbon
footprint.
I know times are hard and millions of you are struggling
to put food on the table and trying to make ends meet.
I do appreciate your sacrifice and do hope you find
work soon. I was really exhausted after Barack took
our family on a luxury vacation in Maine a few weeks
ago. I just had to get away for a few days. Will write
more from Martha’s Vineyard where we will spend
our sixth vacation this year with more of our
family and friends.
Cordially,
Michelle Obam
