The Obamas’ Adorable Date Night
Posted by: Blaire Briody
Filed in:
news
10:15AM, Monday June 1st 2009
Um, can I go on a date with the president? This Saturday, Barack Obama and his stunning date, first lady Michelle, jetted to New York City for romantic night on the town: dinner and a Broadway show. They chowed down at Blue Hill, then drove up the blockaded Sixth Avenue, where massive crowds lined the sidewalks, and headed to Belasco Theater to see “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” a play about black America in the early 1900s.
“I am taking my wife to New York City,” Obama said, “because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished.”
Of course, there was criticism from Republicans—who didn’t seem to mind Bush’s frequent jaunts to Crawford, Texas, or Sarah Palin’s $150,000 shopping spree—but said Obama was putting on a show in the midst of the GM bankruptcy, and demanded to know how much the trip was costing taxpayers. The White House wouldn’t say, but the Obamas did opt for a smaller jet, and by New York standards, Blue Hill has a modestly-priced menu (main courses average $35).
New Yorkers were generally ecstatic about the visit. An audience member at the Broadway show described the scene as “utter pandemonium” with shouting, clapping and a five-minute standing ovation. Meryl Streep was also in the audience, but no one seemed to notice.
Can I just say this totally reminds me of Richard Gere and Julia Roberts going to the opera in “Pretty Woman?” Except, you know, without the whole prostitute thing. [NY Times]
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writergirl
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 10:22 am: [report]
THAT’s why getting through the city Saturday night was a disaster! Thank you Mr. President for consigning me to four hours in my car with a five year old! Hope you had fun!
EarthGoddess
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 10:33 am: [report]
I just love them ... more and more all the time. They’re a fantastic couple with a beautiful family. With all that he’s had to deal with the past several months, they deserve a night out.
resullins
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 10:54 am: [report]
They may deserve a night out… but not at the cost of $1,000,000.00 tax-payer dollars. Bush wasn’t president during the 3 largest bankrupties in history… and Palin’s wardrobe was bought by the party… not the taxpayers. I think this was selfish and uneccessary. He’s been in office less than fives months and taken more vacations than I have in 12 years. I just think he should have waited for his million-dollar date until after the largest employer in the US was out of bankrupty…
jimnist10
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 12:19 pm: [report]
Yeah, true Obama wasn’t President during the 3 largest bankrupticies in history, but he also didn’t create them (ah-hem, Bush). And as I recall, W. went on more damn vacations than ANYONE. Wasn’t there some statistic that he only worked i.e. #&@$% up this country only about half they year or spent more time on vacation in his first term than Clinton did in 8 years? Whatever, I mean, no matter where the First Couple go for “date night” or anything, it’s still going to cost the tax payers money for all the security,transportation, etc. And it’s ONE evening. I’d be pissed if jetting off was a weekly ritual. Would there have been such problem if they stayed in DC and went to dinner and a show there? And like ANY couple, a “date night” is needed to keep their marriage happy. We don’t need another Clinton-esque sex scandal. How much $$$ is that cost the tax payers? Leave it to the Republicans to throw a #&@$% AND request inquiries large and small (which also cost the taxpayer. Ironic, right?) about the Dems doing anything slightly amiss or spending any money espcially when they don’t hold themselves to the same standards. Whatever, let the Obamas be.
Bertram
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
Sorry can’t say I find this at all cute, just wasteful and arrogant. Lets not even begin to compare this ‘date night’ to Presidential ‘vacations’ or retreats of the past. Flying to NYC (two helicopter flights and 2 plane fligts) for the evening at back takes some real brass. The one thing he has actually accomplished, not pie in the sky future promises, is tripling the national debt. Whether that was the correct move or not only time will tell. But after flying to Elkhart, IN and telling the factory workers there that he feels their pain, we all have some belt tightening to do, and wagging fingers at the auto executives for flying on their jets to testify before congress…only to whisk his wife away in a “Pretty Woman” style date night on the taxpayer time is at best a bad example.
There was an opportunity to say,‘next year when things are better we will go to NYC…or next time we are in NYC we make sure one night is date night and in the mean time we are going to go out in DC, etc, etc’
I really hope he turns things around, but this was unnecessary.
Lynn
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 02:07 pm: [report]
I’m OK with this. If the president’s marriage is happy, the president will be less stressed and I think that’s best for everyone, all around.
Plus, he’s stimulating the economy
writergirl
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 02:15 pm: [report]
@jimnist10—Bush had nothing to do with the auto industry going bankrupt. He’s responsible for other things, like the general state of the economy, the mortgage mess, and that, but the auto industry debacle rests squarely in the hands on private management and the unions. They were a private company accountable to themselves and their stockholders—not the goverment. So while I don’t support Bush, you can’t blame him for that one.
spark
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 02:22 pm: [report]
well said, resullins and bertam! i think the obamas should be able to go on a date night, but they should pay for their own dinner and transportation. taxpayers should pay for their security, of course, but if obama wants to fly to new york for fun, he should pay for his own private jet. or fly commercial—he is all about the common man, isn’t he?
veda6
wrote on June 1 2009 @ 11:37 pm: [report]
Awww it’s just this once so why complain?. The message he’s sending- that his wife is an integral part of his life and he appreciates her support enough to take an evening out and spoil her is wonderful. Yes there’s a lot going on in the world and it’s a bit extravagant but this reminds us that it’s not all doom and gloom. And a man that keeps promises to his wife is a good man, right?
Clearly I’ve fallen for it hook, line and sinker. This couple really can do no wrong in my book (though I should add that I’m Australian, so it wasn’t my tax dollars or traffic jam).