White House Austerity
It's the age of austerity for the citizenry only. At The White House, Mark Steyn writes, it's spend and spend, on extravagant, taxpayer funded trips to Hawaii -- and more:
The president has one pooch, a photo-op accessory called Bo, who unlike the corgis requires a full-time handler. In contrast to the stingy remuneration offered by the royal household, the presidential dog-walker is one of 226 White House staff earning over $100,000 a year. For many centuries, the King had a courtier whose somewhat intimate duties were reflected in his title: the Groom of the Stool, a position abolished in 1559. Now, after two and a third centuries, the American presidency has evolved to the point that it has a full-time six-figure Groom of the Canine Stool. Will he be accompanying the president on Air Force One to liaise with the Keeper of the Privy Flatscreen over screenings of Lassie?
I now want a corgi/pug mix
http://tinyurl.com/Pucorgi
Purplepen at December 9, 2012 4:06 AM
Purp, if that dog were an actor, he'd be a grossly overweight Joe Pesci.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 9, 2012 5:40 AM
Let's explicitly note the naked, literally animal egoism demonstrated by the naming of our President's housepet. He did... He did name his dog that.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 9, 2012 5:46 AM
If I had hit on the lottery, I would have been willing to give B.O. the ticket if him and his whole staff left in favor of Ron Paul.
Jim P. at December 9, 2012 6:11 AM
So National Review and the right wing blogosphere are appalled at the excesses of the modern Presidency. Just a coincidence that the current President happens to be Barack Obama.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/bo.asp
miker at December 9, 2012 8:56 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/09/white_house_aus.html#comment-3508949">comment from mikerUm, is the claim that the dogwalker is paid $100K false? Steyn is not claiming the dog was flown on his own private plane.
Apparently, you are unable to dispute this post simply on the facts and arguments within it. Whenever people talk about "the right wing blogosphere" as their reason for disputing something, their disputing is probably about their being part of the "left wing blogosphere," etc.
I am part of neither, and railed against big-spending, small-government-pretending George Bush as well.
The thing is, Barack Obama pretends to be one of us and he is anything but -- while arguing that we all need to cut back and share the pain.
I'd like somebody to share my pain of my health care costs rising -- the health care I've personally paid into monthly since my 20s -- now that I'll be paying for all of those who gambled they wouldn't need catastrophic care for decades and then got some disease in their 40s.
Amy Alkon at December 9, 2012 9:01 AM
@miker: We're all aware that the stories about the president's dog flying solo are silly rumors.
Are there 226 White House staff members being paid more than $100,000 a year?
Is the staff member whose job is to attend to the president's dog one of them?
If so, do you think that's OK? I think it shows a disgusting level of disrespect for the working people whose time and labor support the government.
Ken R at December 9, 2012 9:55 AM
Well it looks like the number over $100K salary is only 140 per this report. That's only $18,448,239.00. The other 329 employees only cost an additional $19,386,350.00. The total is over $37M. The list doesn't appear to count the military and Secret Service assigned to the White House details. That is probably only a few million dollars more.
But every time you fire up Air Force One you are spending a $181,757 per hour.
Jim P. at December 9, 2012 10:49 AM
Miker - I don't care if the Obama's dog walker were paid just $1.oo - he just shouldn't be on the government's dime. period.
The Obamas want a dog, then they should very well take care of it themselves or pay - with their own damn money! - someone to take care of it.
Why are my tax dollars being used for their private luxury? That's the problem; the Obamas, like so many others in government, seem to think that it is all "free" money just for them to take.
Charles at December 9, 2012 11:32 AM
So, like, over the last six years or so I've developed this new principle. It served me well in all the political battles I had with people on this blog, and it's never let me down when away from the computers, either. The axiom goes like this (I'll use indented, italic text for you, to give it a real classy feel):
(For a time, Amy was talking about putting that and a few of my other best aphorisms into a small gift book through her Bloggodess™ publishing imprint... Just a little trinket to give to preferred friends and business contacts. [Small, but beautifully illustrated; a lightweight stocking-stuffer that the business traveler could readily toss into a briefcase for relaxation and amusement in the hotel bar over a glass of wine after difficult meetings in a distant city, that kind of thing.] I don't know what became of the project.)
This was Boosh's dog guy. Things turned out well for him, but his work was about more than watching Barney shit, and it's not possible that he was paid six figures.
Obama is loathsome, as is the contemporary Democratic party; Miker is a tragically naive goof.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 9, 2012 2:19 PM
And don't judge me, muthafucker.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 9, 2012 2:20 PM
The dog walker has other tasks as well, and has been with the WH since Nixon!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/whos-minding-bo/
But I do think that Michelle should take the girls on a trip in the US, not Spain or the EU, next time.
KateC at December 9, 2012 3:22 PM
Grrr... GRRRRR!
I'm still pissed off.
How could a dog-walking horticulturalist be worth six figures to the American public?
(Well, OK, I'd want that much too, if my employer was going to read all my email and listen to my phone calls etc for the duration of my employment in the White House, which is probably how it works.)
Anyway, Steyn is explicit: "[A] full-time six-figure Groom of the Canine Stool." The NY Times piece doesn't say the dogs are Haney the Horticulturalist's full-time responsibility, only that he was "helping out."
So what's the deal?
Snopes. And by my tally of the PDF linked on this page, Michelle's staff (not including travel) costs us $1,240,500.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 9, 2012 3:49 PM
I wonder how much THIS crap costs us? Started with George W, continued enthusiastically by President Hope N. Change:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/the-terrifying-background-of-the-man-who-ran-a-cia-assassination-unit/259856/
Unreal to the point of impeachment-bait. Presidents washing their hands of responsibility as they send out civilian death squads.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 9, 2012 11:26 PM
Leave a comment