Recession, Depression, What Michelle Worry?
by
the staff of thelastcrusade.org
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it” Albert Einstein
“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:
$172,2000
Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)
$140,000
Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
$113,000
Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
$102,000
Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
$90,000
Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
$84,000
Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
$75,000
Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
$70,000
Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
$65,000
Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
$62,000
Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
$60,000
Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
$52,500
Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
$50,000
Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
$45,000
Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)
$40,000
Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
$36,000
Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
This is a perfect example of why are schools suck! Secretaries have secretaries who have assistants and those that matter have nothing! I hope these bitches and bastards know what it means to lose their job, then your home, and then your spouse! Oh, wait that will never happen to them because some People are more equal than others! Listen Obama, You will have one term and be seen as worse than the worst president this Nation has seen: LINCOLN! So live it up while you can,
Faux-bama because your term of office is short!
Regarding the article by Paul Williams, “First Lady Requires More than Twenty Attendants,” I found it fascinating! I was also stunned that Michelle Obama required such a large staff!! I went online to find the numbers for Laura Bush’s staff, but the number I came up with is questionable. I would like to have a comparison. Can you help me?
How many people were on the staff of Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barbra Bush and Nancy Reagan?
Thanks
Jim
An apple-to-apple comparison of first ladies attendants would be fair and informative. Based on past trends, it’s safe to say that had such an obscene abuse of power and money occurred from Laura Bush, the mainstream media would have hyped the stories. The MM swooning over the current administration must help Michelle feel even more “proud” about this country. How much more pride can debt-money buy?
GEORGE WASHINGTON, OUR FIRST PRESIDENT, MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A KING OR QUEEN, NOR WILL WE EVER HAVE ONE.
THE TREATMENT THAT MICHELLE EXPECTS IS FOR A QUEEN. THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND MAY NOT RECEIVE THE SERVICE THAT MICHELLE DOES. IT ISN’T RIGHT. PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF AND WASH YOUR OWN UNDERWEAR.
SINCERELY, BUT FED UP…..ROY
You guys are a bunch of whiny sissies. As for the guy claiming Lincoln was the worst president this country has ever seen. You sum up this article and the morons who agree with you. I’m a white man, but it is clear your disdain for the Obama’s stem from racism and ignorance.
Are \you serious? She has the same staff every other first lasdy has, and she actually does work! She should be paid for all she does. F\ucking losers!
I know lame rumors from the Right continue and need to fulfill a deep need to find SOMETHING, anything to hate about the Obamas.
This may come as a surprise, but all FL have a large staff. Duh. Have you had your heads buried in the sand?
Oh, and you may like to read this fact check below about this recent Michelle Obama hoax.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/michelle-obama-staff.htm
by my count, there were 15 on the whitehouse staff list (i counted quickly, i didn’t count job titles that didn’t say “first lady” in them).
According to the National Journal, the same list in 2007
http://www.nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2007/whsalaries.htm
Same counting methodology, was also 15
what’s the big story? that Laura Bush and Michelle Obama don’t live like the little people?
Came here via Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
The above is clearly a textbook piece of yellow journalism.
Debunked, debunked, debunked.
Of course, will anyone on the right-wing fringe accept this? No, of course not. They’ll do the same thing they did with the fake Kenyan birth certificate — nitpick, delay, come up with excuses, and hope that if they assert their version of reality just a little louder, the facts will start matching up with their opinions.
Well, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Even MORE unfortunately for this country, it still works, though. The facts (like the fact Michelle Obama and Laure Bush’s staffs are roughly the same size) fade away and only the talking points remain. People really are that dumb, which makes posts like this something like black magic.
We have read the words of our Lord: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Instead, so many are seeking the baloney… and it is making them prisoners! When the conservatives cast off their tired reliance on rumor-mongers for their primary source of information, we will FINALLY be able to have an intelligent conversation.
People, please… do your research. It is never “safe to say” (ie: assume)anything – RESEARCH! RESEARCH!
so if michelle is merely carrying on the status quo, WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘CHANGE???’
I checked the list of “White House Staff”
The list is twenty nine (29) PAGES long.
Michele doesn’t belong to the right union. She isn’t getting her fair share.
Why are my taxes paying for the First Lady’s staff, regardless of who is in the White House. If the First Lady wants a personal staff (I understand why… she’s busy), it should be paid by the First Family. They obviously can afford it. I sure could use an Assistant to the Staff Assistant position. Probably pays more than I make now.
This “breaking news” was created by the leadership of the christian reconstructionists. If anybody does not know what the C.r. stand for, please google and you will be astonished. I suggest that Mr. Moore look into this organization and make his next movie.
You forgot to add that Laura Bush had 22 attendants working for her, during the recession, or depression. You make no mention of the fact that the number of attendants she has is roughly equal or below the average number of attendants the first ladys had in the past. Your bias, or stupidity is stunning.
After looking at both first ladies staffers, they are very comparable size/cost wise. However, the bigger picture is why does any first lady need that many assistants (5-10 max).
I hope and pray that America wakes up and gets these self-serving commie boobs out of the White House.
Well, I just came to this site because someone forwarded an e-mail to me about Michelle Obama’s staff. Even the way it was worded was a tip off. Look at how many staff on the list are primarily assigned to the President. So I checked Snopes, and of course it’s the usual lie.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp
I didn’t even vote for Obama, and I am more than disappointed that a Christian would post something consisting of lies.
By the end of George Bush’s term, Laura Bush had MORE staff working directly/indirectly for her.
At the very LEAST, I sure wish people would check with Snopes.com before forwarding these inaccurate e-mails that are designed to whip up people’s emotions.
I too checked snopes and the Michelle staff report is accurate, what isn’t accurate is the other FL staffs.
It seems to me that this is likely an exaggeration of fact. But it is almost funny to watch everyone get so excited about refuting it that you ignore the fact that so much of what you are citing may also be biased. Have you become so comfortable with the inherent bias that you don’t recognize it anymore??
The right-wing in this country is so bereft of ideas that they can do nothing more than fabricate lies and manufacture outrage.
You idiots will believe anything.
Yet another stupid bullcrap that the alleged rapist of 2 year old babies Paul Williams has manufactured:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2007/whsalaries.htm
I wish Obama was a muslim just so it’d prove how its the fucking same as christianity.
Go make up more propaganda you piece of shit, what a christian thing to do, don’t liars burn in hell? Oh wait, it’s okay to sin and lie, because you’ll be forgiven!!!
fucking hypocrites. Extremism of any type is bullshit, and the Evangelical Christians have done more to harm this country then any muslim ever has.
I did not vote for or hire Michelle and nobody else has. I want all her assistents laid off or paid for by the Obamas. Since when do we pay for a man’s wife, shouldn’t the husband do that?
Wow, there sure is alot of ill will on this site. Maybe if the helpers saleries were paid to all of you, there would be better feelings…..hmmmm??
If any of you that read this stuff would confirm the information given you will see that the number of staffers that Michelle Obama has is about the same as past first ladies. One should not take information given by one source as the truth. You should, no matter what your view point is, confirm that the information is correct. There are many out there who do not care about the truth just their agenda.
Regardless of your political or religious standing there is something inherently wrong with the way our politicians spend other people’s money (our taxes). The USA (Gov’t) is freely giving tyrants, corrupt governments and countries that seek our demise BILLIONS of dollars in the name of political favors (making friends), defending and building Democracy worldwide. We need to take care of our own first!