Saturday, January 24, 2009

Michelle's Expensive Taste In Earrings

During last year's presidential election, Michelle Obama poked fun at President Bush's $600 stimulus tax rebate plan. She suggested at the time there was little you could do with that amount of money than buy something like a pair of earrings. “You’re getting $600. What can you do with that?" she asked. “Barack’s approach is that the short-term quick fix kinda stuff sounds good. And it may even feel good that first month when you get that check. And then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings.”

It turns out that $600 wouldn't cover the purchase of earrings for Michelle. Barack's approach was to buy her a $5,000 pair of diamond earrings for her birthday last year. Michelle promptly returned the earrings to the jewelry store where he purchased them and exchanged them for a $12,000 pair. Quoting a store employee, the Sun-Times' Michael Sneed writes, "Michelle came in, returned the earrings, looked around and picked out something a little more classic, with bigger stones, that was twice the price. She wanted to check with her husband first -- then Barack came back in and bought what she wanted -- which happened to be what I suggested originally!" The store employee added, "It was pretty typical of a married couple. But that was what was cute about it."

9 comments:

Downtown Indy said...

Just your typical black man who grew up humble as the son of a 'poor goat-herding' Kenyan father and a white mother who needed food-stamps to get by.

Wonder how folks for whom those earrings represent a year's wages (or more) view this?

Gary R. Welsh said...

That one gift works out to 7% of Obama's annual Senate salary, not counting Michelle's no work, no show $300,000 job at the University of Chicago Hospital thanks to the million plus earmarks Obama steered to the hospital. Reports are that her job has been eliminated now that the Obamas have gone to the White House. The Obamas often lived beyond their financial means courtesy of taking kickbacks for political favors. The $1.6 million house Tony Rezko helped the couple purchase as exhibit number one. It is held in a trust managed by Rezko's personal attorney.

Gary R. Welsh said...

For more on the elimination of Michelle's job at the UofC Hospital:

http://www.cdobs.com/archive/our-columns/michelle-obamas-job-eliminated,2486

Downtown Indy said...

Any word on gramma's nannying? Is she drawing a salary as she watches over the kids? That ought to be worth at least $150k.

bobisimo said...

Ah, rich people. Gotta love them. Bless their hearts!

artfuggins said...

Downtown Indy, please tell me more about the "typical black man"!!

Downtown Indy said...

Art, would it get through to you had I not neglected to enclose that in quotation marks? Probably not.

I suppose that you don't actually read the kinds of descriptions of himself that Our New Messiah authors.

POPA said...

Now I can't tell when you're being ironic. So, YES, it WAS fair game to talk about Palin's Hundred Thousand Dollar wardrobe or no? I can't tell if you're talking about $12,000 earrings because you REALLY think that it's inappropriate, or because D's went after Palin for her expensive tastes. If it's really a problem for you, do you mind me asking WHAT purchases are okay? For example, exactly how much IS okay to pay for earrings, AI? I want you to tell us here, this way we can remember your answer and make sure you use the "earring test" for all future political candidates whom you support.

I'm predicting no response from you.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I didn't mention Palin, but I'm glad you brough it up, IPOPA. Did you hear this story on all the network news broadcasts and in every newspaper like you did the Palin wardrobe issue? No, of course you didn't. My first reaction is what an ungrateful person she is. They don't buy their kids x-mas presents, but she takes a $5,000 pair of earrings back and exchanges them for a $12,000 pair because she doesn't like them. She is the one who said you could only buy a pair of earrings with Bush's $600 stimulus payment. There is a real double standard in the coverage. Michelle goes out and hires an interior designer for the stars to redecorate the White House. Oh, that's cool. When Nancy Reagan did it, she was a Leona Helmsley bitch who was spending money on herself while the rest of the country was in a recession.