Last month, Michelle Obama said in a speech:
“The salaries don’t keep up with the cost of paying off [student loan] debt, so you’re in your 40s, still paying off your debt at a time when you have to save for your kids,” she says.
“Barack and I were in that position,” she continues. “The only reason we’re not in that position is that Barack wrote two best-selling books…It was like Jack and his magic beans. But up until a few years ago, we were struggling to figure out how we would save for our kids.”
It must have been rilly rilly hard. Their tax returns are and here’s the run-down of their yearly income starting eight years ago:
$240,505 in 2000
$272,759 in 2001
$259,394 in 2002
$238,327 in 2003
$207,647 in 2004
$1,655,106 in 2005
$983,826 in 2006
Frankly, I don’t know how they did it. Two kids and only a quarter-million dollars in income? What the hell are they supposed to do, make magic happen?
I feel for them, I really do. It’s rough out there in the real world where they are, struggling to save for their kids when they’re only clearing roughly $20,000 a month.
Assholes.
Well, you can’t start saving for your kids until you’ve gratified your own needs and desires. Says quite a lot really about where the Obamas value their kids vs their own wants.
To go off topic a bit… I’m looking for informed opinions on 9mm handguns in the $300-$600 range. I’ve got that federal simulus bribe coming and I figure the best thing to do with government money is to spend it on a new gun. Thanks!
she should honestly stfu. i hate her and her stupid mouth. i would LOVE to have all that money. seems like she’s not doing anything worth squat with it. dumb bitch.
Ah, that made my day.
Fuloydo, I am aiming (pun intended) at the low end of the 1911 spectrum for my rebate…something from Springfield Armory should suffice.
Couple it with a little bit of savings and you should be able to get a Kimber, and they are quite nice.
1911’s are the way to go. Failsafe action, designed by the Moses of firearms, John Moses Browning.
Christ.
If their student loan debts are so big that a six figure salary can’t take care of it, what does that say about the Obamessiah’s ability to manage money?
Fuh-huh-huck Michelle Obama. Those income figures are the income of rich people. She can smooch my big myopic midwestern white male ass.
OT to Fuloydo: If you are set on a 9mm, you can’t go wrong with a . Same John Moses Browning goodness as the venerable 1911 but in 9mm. You might not be able swing a new one under $600 but there are millions of used ones out there.
Michelle Obama has been the best thing to happen to the Republican campaign. McCain should send her a big fruit basket or something.
Wait, is that racist?
WTF???? Even their lowest salary of $240K is about SIX times what the average american income is . . . . . . oh, I feel so sorry for her. Must have been rough to live on only $240K.
I hope McCain gets hold of that stupid statement and publishes the hell out of it to show what a DUMB ASS Barack is for marrying someone so stupid.
I would be more interested in seeing the credit scores of candidates running for office. Such information would tell us more than gross income figures about “character”.
The only person I know in their 40s and struggling to pay their student loan debt is a relative who spent eight years in college “finding their self” while racking up student loan debt.
They could even get the debt cut in half right now by participating in a state program to teach in certain underprivileged areas. But they choose not to.
Michelle is just precious, though. She is the very definition of “disingenuous.”
Way off-topic:
Oh. My. God. I just watched American Idol in real-time… and David Cook just KILLED, I mean, killed the song Billy Jean. It could go on the radio today and I would buy it in a heartbeat. He completely re-did it from the cheesy Michael Jackson version and it ROCKED! Freakin’ amazing.
I just wanted y’all to know that and I couldn’t wait for Rachel’s post. Sorry to be so OT, about AI, of all things.
I don’t think any of this played very well. Has anyone heard The Mouth say anything lately? I think they got a hold of her and told her to shut the fuggup. (Now watch, she’ll come out with a new gem tomorrow.)
On the subject of gun recommendations, this topic comes up so much in the comments – which is in no way a bad thing – that I wonder if a side bar should be added of reader recommendations so commenters don’t have to repeat all this great info.
Maybe the poll program could come in handy on this…
Pay attention to the specifics of Obama’s 2006 “charitable” contributions almost 22% of his charitable gifts went to the Congressional Black Caucus. Am I the only person who had no idea the CBC was a charity!? Total contributions for ’06: $60,307; CBC: $13,107.
Again, the CBC is a charity!?
I find that I consistently agree with Redhead Infidel.
I am a musician and have worked with a good many of the world’s greatest bands and I gotta say, David Cook was absolutely amazing. He’s the only one who really REMAKES a song – everyone else is just doing a cover…
I also would have immediately bought Mr. Cook’s rendition (if available) of Billy Jean – I was floored by his abiltiy to take a Michael Jackson dance song and morph it into a real rock song. That’s real musical genius at work. They shoulda declared the competition over tonight.
Sorry for changing the subject, but couldn’t resist
Fuloydo – The BEST 9m/m handguns are the Browning P-35 Hi-Power and the CZ-75. I’ve used both extensively in combat situations, and have never been let down by either. The Hi-Power is a tad lighter and the grip a shade smaller; and it is single-action only (but carried cocked-and-locked). The CZ-75 is a bit heavier, but holds 2 more rounds (13 vs 15), is double action but can also be carried cocked-and-locked, and is probably the most ergonomically perfect handgun in the world (w/the Hi-Power a close 2nd) The CZ-85 is the same gun but with ambidextrous safety. Either one of those can be had for well-within your price range. And, loaded with 147-grain subsonic hollowpoints, they will get the job done.
Rachel – I believe that the last word of your article says all that can be said. [You do realize that ms. obamassiah just wants you to know that she, too, has struggled with the same problems as the “little people” have. Wanna have some fun? Look up where her family lived when she was a kid.]
Unless they underwrote their Harvard Law School degrees with loans from payday loan outlets, I sincerely doubt they were paying them off into their 40’s.
Anyhoo: hasn’t Barack been saying that anyone with this sort of income is R.I.C.H and getting tax incentives on the backs of working families? Do either of them have any idea of how often they are contradicting themselves?
As Wanda Sykes so aptly said on “The Tonight Show”, it’s hard to complain about The Man when YOU ARE The Man!
I’d go for either the Glock 19 or the Browning Hi-Power.
As for Obama, making that kind of money while preaching at us about the “poor” is starting to remind me of John Edwards.
The Congressional Black Caucus is a charity? I wonder how that works?
It makes my head explode to think about all the crap that the politicians (of both parties) get away with in Washington.
I’d love to enjoy that level of “struggling”. In fact, I’d love to enjoy three months of that level of “struggling” a year at this point. I’m barely making two… which is why paying off over $500/month in student loan debt is actually a struggle… not an insurmountable one, mind you, but definitely one that curtails quite a few purchases.
I would express my annoyance further, but it would require the heavy use of colorful metaphors that would undoubtedly break the Rachelnet. Consequently, I shall stop now before I unleash a string of profanity that would make a sailor’s head implode.
Probably the same way that the Brady Campaign is, but the NRA isn’t.
Gawd damn, I am pissed off right now. I have busted my ass for fourteen years in the technical field I chose, and have finally passed that magic threshold where I earn more than a tenured Colorado public school teacher (who works for ten months a year, tops). And now I have to listen some fucknut, elitist, Ivy League git who consistently made six times what I have annually whine about how fucking hard it is?! Mentullum caco, Michelle Obama.
I want to know what they did to go from 200k to 1.6 million in a year.
That’s the kind of raise I’ll be needing.
Um, the big-head guy on ‘American Idol’ didn’t remake that version of ‘Billie Jean’. He basically cribbed the whole thing from a version by Chris Cornell.
There’s your genius, guys. Pity big-head is getting all the credit.
Wow. They made more in one month than I made all last year. Don’t talk to me about struggling!
Until you’re working three jobs, pawning your family heirlooms, and forgoing days off for months on end, I just don’t want to hear it.
Damn.
If he’s poor, WTF am I? Dead?
*checking Pulse*
Nope, I’m still alive and with it.
(well…. I’m alive, that “with it” stuff is still up in the air…)
Well, Obama was elected to federal office in 2004, so his income increased in 2005 when he started work… How much are Senators paid?
It may have been when he wrote those “best selling books”–but I don’t even care to research it….
How in the frickin’ hell do they expect the average American to “relate” to them? As Eric E. said above, it reminds me of John Edwards. Somehow I am supposed to associate my own struggle with theirs and join the lemmings. Ivy league schools and prominent white collar jobs–I’m crying a river.
It’s kind of funny–there was a time when one of my measures of success was when I would be able to put more than 5 dollars of gas in my vehicle. But that was when gas was about 80 cents a gallon. Now that 5 dollars would get me to work and about halfway back home. I wonder if the Obama’s ever dug for coins in their couch….
By the way–I call all of this posturing by Michelle Obama the “Obama Mama Drama.”
Michelle Obama’s mouth is actually a wormhole that leads directly to a Kryptonite mine.
The Clinton machine deployed thousands of operatives and called in decades of favors, and still couldn’t put a dent in Barack Obama. The GOP showed no sign of being able to either. It seemed we were doomed.
And then, the Wormhole appeared.
Its first visit to our universe was evanescent, but even so its gifts were magical. Since then the Wormhole has reappeared several times, each time opening wider and lingering longer.
I take it as an omen. Against all odds, once again, the republic will dodge a bullet.
Thank you, Wormhole.
Anybody remember Al Gore’s definition of a millionaire during the 2000 campaign?
A milionaire is anybody that averages $250,000 and above during any four-year period.
According to The Goracle(tm), the Obamas were millionaires…before the best-selling books.
She’s like a really dumb version of Dennis Haysbert’s wife on the first series of 24.
Only if it is filled with watermelons.
Michelle is going to be as much of an asset to the campaign as was Ta-ray-sa four years ago. Can they find a muzzle that will work on that mouth?
What I find incredible about those tax returns is that neither have ever worked at an actual productive job. Suckass liberal fascists doing their “do as I say” kabuki dance …
I heart Michelle Obama. She gives me hope.
I’m with Jennifer. She gives me hope that there will not be a Dim in the White House in January.
You know, I’m not at all angry about the money she made. Not one bit. Because I’m a capitalist. And I’m sure she lost a LOT of that income to taxes, but I AM angry about her and Obama’s public statements that so obviously contradict what they actually DO. I could just spit.
(I think Rachel needs a new category. Along with Daily Dog, we need our Two Minutes Hate.)
For off topic, the best site to visit for expert advice on firearms is Kim Dutoit. If you listened to me, you would end up with a hand cannon.
Hallelujah, there is hope. Just keeep tawkin.
I love it, dumb ass wife. Just when I thought it was lost.
Gotta tout the CZ-75. Love that gun. Accurate, easy to use, great hand feel; ooh, is that wrong to say?
Had a little issue with a loose safety – it would squiggle into the safe position while firing. CZ America fixed it gratis and paid for all the shipping.
I like the Bersa Thunder .380 for carry, though. I have it in a cloth holster that uses velcro to hold the safety strap. When I travel in my car, I attach it in the holster, sans safety strap, to some velcro I attached to the right side of the bucket seat (Honda CRV) near the floor. Out of sight but easy to reach.
Oh, and I propse Michelle for negotiator to AQ and the Taliban in Pakistan. Hey, we can’t be afraid to talk to our enemirs, can we? And she seems oh so willing to talk. And talk, and talk…
“Obama Mama Drama”…..that’s a KEEPER!
I’ve always been partial to Rugers, I carried a P89d as my duty gun for years, before that I carried a Security 6. The ‘d’ means decock only, no safety. The first shot is double action, after that it’s single action. Accurate, after 18 years and ????? rounds it shoots a pattern that you can cover with your palm (combat style speed shooting). And…you can get one for about $500.
Hold up. She explicitly states that the books made a huge impact; the first was published in 1995. What were the sales figures from then to now? What was their income before 2000? Before 1995? There’s no data before “until a few years ago” to assess the claim.
Just to tack on — I freely admit I stole this, and I would give credit if I knew from whom I stole it — technically, it’s “Obama’s Baby Mama Drama.” So he married her, so what?
(Maybe from FrankJ? Someone was hoping there’d be an out-of-wedlock child just so s/he could use that headline.)
OMD just makes me want to puke. Repeatedly.
My family has 2 college graduates working professional careers, and combined we haven’t even cracked the $100k level yet. And she complains about not being able to pay the bills. She is an udder and complete biatch. I volunteer to smack her around with the “Super Southern ClueBat”(TM).
SSC-B: 6’x 6″x6″ post, liberally studded with nails and glass, wrapped with barbed wire, and doused in alcohol and Oleoresin Capsicum. Plus, a Corinthian leather wrapped handle.
CCS: I am in total agreement about Rugers. I too, have carried a Security Six and a P89 as duty weapons. Solid and reliable. Better than a timex.
I read yesterday that sales of his first book jumped from nearly zero to #1 status after his speech at the Democratic National Convention…
Anyway, I thought student loans were a fixed percentage. Why would someone expect their income to increase to keep pace with their student loans?
Fuloydo,
Gotta second the recommendation for the Browning Hi-Power. Like the 1911, it’s a single action pistol and has roughly the same ergonomics. If you’ve got the money, I’d get a Kimber Aegis in 9mm…it’s a totally tricked out package for a serious shooter, but runs about $900+.
For the budget minded, get a Charles Daly or Arcus clone. Quality isn’t Kimber-level, but unless you’re getting competitive, they’ll do the job punching hippies and albino gangsta wannabes center-mass.
Whatever you do, really consider a .22 conversion kit so you can save tons of money on ammo. Conversion kit is around $250, but with 100rds of 9mm going for $17 vs. 550 rds of .22 for $10, it won’t take long for the conversion kit to pay for itself. You could also consider systems like BeamHit of Bullite which allow you to practice at home without real ammo. Whatever you buy, use it and get real comfortable with it, ’cause when you need….you’ll need it.
Oh, and by the way, Michelle Obama is nothing more than a aging-raging 80’s yuppie with a darker skin tone. Women like her heavily populate anywhere affluent, and they really do think they’re smarter than you, and would love nothing more than to prove it. B%$ches like that give bimbos a good name. At least Bambie can do something useful with her mouth….
Women like her have lost touch with American life and values since they exist only in protective enclaves where conscientious consumerism (how’s that for an oxymoron?) is the “responsible” way to live.
She’s only twenty years and twenty million dollars away from being Leona Helmsley. Good thing there’s lots of real women like Rachl Lookis to balance out the universe.
Holy cow! With that kind of money, I’d have long ago bought the Fishing Hole and Leisure Ranch and retired.
About the Handgun question. I have a Springfield Armory XD9. $450. I really like it . It shoots well, never misfired or jammed.
I don’t begrudge people the right to get rich, but the instant they start bitching about how tough their life is they start to shit me to tears.
Ok, I’m probably going to take a lot of crap for this but I don’t particularly find 250k for a family of 4 to make you qualify as rich (I definitely agree it’s not struggling). The thing that really pisses me off about this is if Obama is elected and they raise taxes who is it going to hit the hardest? The people she says are struggling. So Mrs. Obama’s logic goes something like this. If you make 250k you are struggling but we’re probably going to tax you more anyways? Anyone else see the logical flaw here or is it just me? For some reason I don’t mind him too much but I absolutely loathe her.
Yeah, I’d love to be “struggling” along on 250K per year. Cry me a river.
Actually, once you pass the threshold of the highest tax bracket, it’s astounding how much of each addtional dollar goes to taxes. My family is doing very well, and I’m amazed at how much us “upper middle class” folks pay in taxes. I kind of wish tax day was the day before election day. I still think most dimocrats are socialists in disguise.
Ezzers’, right of course. Chris Cornell is the best ever, and a real genius. I suppose I shoulda said somehting more like it was genius on the part of David Cook to choose the song – that seems to be more than half the battle in this competition.
David Cook did add a little flavor to the song… I gotta say, Cook’s rendition is even better than Cornell’s… gasp…
as Rachel pointed out, the holding out of the note during “I” was great stuff, and Cornell didn’t do it. Small small input, I know, but it was a key device.
Cornell also did a version of Ave Maria, but not as good as the girl in my local church. He’s still a genius