First Lady Michelle Obama walks with her daughters Malia, left, and Sasha, right, as they visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China in Beijing on Sunday (03.23.14), after having pulled a fast one on photographers hoping to capture something more than the predictable shot of her strolling with daughters along the Great Wall of China. (AP Photo: Andy Wong)
By Marion Algier – AskMarion
Although the mainstream U.S. media is in the back pocket of the Obama administration, and has leaned far left for years, ensuring that only White House approved (who every much restrict and control the photos and stories that are published for American consumption) or good stories about the Obamas are reported, the press overseas gives us a clearer picture of what really goes on and definitely a different perspective. The vacation stories always seem to be the same, especially when it is FLOTUS Michelle and her entourage, whether they visit Africa, England, China and even occasionally similar reports leak out from Aspen, Hawaii, Martha’s Vineyard or from secret parties at the White House.
But should this really concern us or make the news, you might ask, since we have so many other large problems to focus on? Absolutely!! For in the end we are talking millions of dollars in taxpayer money; America’s image in the world that has declined drastically under President Obama’s watch, and it underscores the ever-growing divide between the self-anointed ruling class and common Americans, something our Founding Fathers and the Americans of that era gave their lives for, to ensure that there would be no ruling class and that we were all just average Americans, no matter what our temporary status or monetary position.
The DailyMail reported that Beijing hotel workers were quickly 'fed up' with the Obama entourage. The are staying in a 3400-square-foot, $8,350-per-night suite and inconveniencing 'pretty much everyone' is the word. The first lady's mother is 'barking at the staff'
- Michelle Obama, her daughters and her mother Marian Robinson are staying in a sumptuous presidential suite at a Beijing Westin hotel
- Mrs. Robinson has been 'barking at the staff since she arrived,' a hotel staffer said, adding that 'we can't wait for this to be over'
- Secret Service agents are monopolizing elevators and booting high-paying guests from their rooms to occupy a block of space near the first lady
- Both front and back doors of the hotel are blocked off, with Chinese and U.S. security agents screening everyone who enters
- Ordinary Chinese describe Mrs. Obama and her family as kind and gracious, but hotel staff are 'fed up'
This certainly is nothing new. Similar reports, comments and complaints seem to accompany all of Michelle Obama’s travels.
Michelle Obama and three of her family members are staying in a $8,350-per-night Beijing presidential suite, but despite a 24-hour butler and other perks that come with the lodging, her entourage has inconvenienced 'pretty much everyone' and made the hotel staff 'fed up,' a well-placed hotel staffer has told MailOnline.
The sumptuous pad at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang hotel – its website calls the room 'an oasis of comfort – is a 3,400-square-foot masterpiece including a private steam room, 'corner sofas with silk pillows,' and in-room dining for six.
But the Obamas' stay has already affected staff and guests at the hotel, with the Westin front-desk veteran alleging that Mrs. Obama's mother Marian Robinson has been 'barking at the staff since she arrived.'
First lady Michelle Obama, her mother Marian Robinson, and her daughters Sasha and Malia are in Beijing for the beginning of a week-long tour, and their hotel's staff are already tired of them
A senior hotel staffer said Marian Robinson (L), Mrs. Obama's mother, has been 'barking at the staff since she arrived at the hotel
Can you spot the Secret Service? Many of the agents in Mrs. Obama's detail are Asian-American, helping them avoid standing out while they protect the first lady -- but confusing some hotel guests who don't understand why they can't board some elevators
Government security forces from both China and the U.S. started Thursday to screen everyone who entered the building, including paying guests, setting up checkpoints that resemble those at airline concourse entrances.
The Secret Service's monopoly on the hotel's highest floors has meant the Westin had to boot guests with previous reservations out of their executive-level rooms.
Secret Service agents are also monopolizing hotel elevators long before the Obamas need them, added the staffer, who identified himself as a member of the concierge staff and spoke English during a phone call on Friday.
'Many of them are Asian, too, or Americans who are Asian, so you know our guests don't understand.'
'We can't wait for this to be over, to tell you the truth,' he said in a sudden hush. 'We entertain many important people here, but this has been, I think, very different.'
A spokesperson for Mrs. Obama declined to comment.
Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect and other former Secret Service Agents and White House employees rate the Obama’s at the bottom of the list or presidents and presidential families for their treatment of those who protect and serve them. It is a pattern~
The Westin Beijing Chaoyang's 'oasis' presidential suite isn't the only part of the hotel that the Obama's have monopolized: Their Secret Service contingent has allegedly bumped some high-paying guests from their rooms
A U.S. Secret Service spokesperson promised answers to MailOnline's questions but didn't provide any in time for publication. The agency generally does not speak publicly about security arrangements for the officials it protects.
A spokesman for Starwood Hotels, which owns the Westin chain, referred questions to Secret Service.
Ordinary Chinese who have met the American first lady have described her in media reports as approachable and friendly, and the hotel staffer agreed.
'The first lady is gracious, and the girls are lovely,' he said.
The Westin employee and another colleague said Sasha and Malia Obama have been on their best behavior because Mrs. Robinson has kept them on a short leash.
They emphasized that they have had a disappointing experience with the protection detail that accompanies Mrs. Obama everywhere.
Wealthy hotel guests bumped from their reserved rooms into other less-luxurious accommodations have inundated the front desk with complaints.
As a condition of the first lady staying at the Westin, the Secret Service blocked off all the rooms near the presidential suite..
The Washington Times reported Thursday that an entourage of about 70 people is accompanying the guests of honor to China at taxpayer expense.
On Board: Travels with the First Lady in China
More guards than guarded? The two first ladies (front) strolled through Beijing's Forbidden City with their protection details close at hand
Blending in: The Secret Service detail guarding Mrs. Obama and her family members includes Asian-American agents like this man
'Mrs. Diplomat': Chinese President Xi Jinping joined in Friday for events that were supposed to include just Mrs. Obama and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan. The White House has insisted that the trip is a cultural exchange and not a political mission, however… nothing this administration does is ever a-political or unplanned, including: Michelle Obama Showing Up In China Proudly Wearing Communist Red
Delightful: Ordinary Chinese have described Mrs. Obama as a wonderful visitor, but her mother (at C) is allegedly causing hotel staff headaches
The White House has taken pains to frame Mrs. Obama's trip as a cultural journey rather than a political one, but taxpayers are paying through the nose for it nonetheless.
China News Service described the first lady on Friday as 'Mrs Diplomatic,' and the Xinhua news agency dubbed the trip 'an unprecedented and historical moment in the chapter of China–U.S. relations.'
The trip won't come cheap.
Judicial Watch, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., reports that it cost more than $11 million for President and Mrs. Obama to travel to Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial service in December.
The first couple were in Africa for less than 13 hours.
The Obamas' 2013 visit to Africa, a longer affair, reportedly cost Americans more than $100 million.
Every president and their families are obviously different, but nobody has spent more money, both in running up the U.S. debt and personally than Barack Obama, his administration and his family. And no administration has been more secretive after making transparency a center point of his 2008 campaign. They use the U.S. Treasury as their piggy bank and appear to think that they are entitled.
Europe and the rest of the world were also temporarily enamored with President Obama when he was first elected, but that glow has long faded for them. And I learned a long time ago, long before the Obamas… that if you really want to know what is going on, you need to add alternative sources and some International News Coverage to your information gathering options.
The world is now laughing at Americans and their gullibility and ask themselves why the American people would stand for all the broken promises, the rule by fiat and executive orders, the loss of our freedoms (when we have a Constitution to protect us) and the down right arrogance and flaunting of entitlement by those presently in the White House.
Where is the shared sacrifice? Where is the leadership by example? Where is the empathy for the average American by those in power? And what has happened to the American people? When did we sink to the point where we believe that any of this is acceptable and are willing to go down the rabbit hole without a fight?
The Obamas’ trip to Africa alone cost the American taxpayer $100 million while the true unemployment and under-employment number in the United States was/is estimated at approximately 23%, many Americans have even forgotten what a vacation is and the national debt has sky rocketed to $17 trillion. And now the Obama family women are again on vacation, being sold to us as a cultural visit, in China for what will be another multi-tens of million of dollars trip that the American taxpayers are again paying for. Would it really be asking too much for our first family to be good ambassadors for the United States and to represent us with dignity instead of embarrassing us and making Americans look even more foolish than the the rest of the world already think we are for re-electing this president.
More DailyMail Coverage from China:
Other Related:
Most Transparent Administration Throws Secret Party
The Obamas… “Let Them Eat Cake” or Is That Drink Tea? – Updated
Obama And Hollande – Scenes From The Class Struggle
Political Elitists Living the High Life While Americans Suffer
Sequestration Sacrifices Are Obviously Only For Us and Our Kids
First They Came For The Cupcakes, And I Did Not Speak Out
British Paper: If White House Really Wanted to Cut Spending They’d Rein in Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama Listed Daughters Malia and Sasha as “Senior Staffers” for $432,142 African Trip
This Week’s Watcher’s Council Nominations – $100M African Safari Edition
Biden Spends $1 Million Annually for Weekend Trips
Dan Bongino, Former Secret Service Agent and author of Life Inside the Bubble: Why a Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away from It All, joined Neil Cavuto to comment the 3 Secret Service agents benched before Obama trip to the Netherlands. Bongino said he felt the move was unnecessary.
'Obama-Mao T-Shirts' Removed from Great Wall Shops as Michelle Obama Visits
