Michelle Obama’s trip to China starting on Wednesday will be nonpoliticalShe who knows nothing about education is giving speeches on education, but there's nothing political about it. Okey dokey.
The White House is defending the first lady bringing her family along for the ride by saying it's what the Chinese would want. "Tina Tchen, Mrs. Obama’s chief of staff and a first-generation Chinese-American, said a multigenerational visit would be appreciated by the Chinese, who value tradition," says the Times.
But in America, the trip is not without controversy. "Mrs. Obama is drawing scrutiny for her decision to travel with her mother and her two daughters, who are on spring break, bringing to mind a vacation she took to Spain in 2010 with her daughter Sasha and some friends. She and her entourage paid for their lodging and entertainment
Is this the excuse REALLY? It is what the Chinese would want?
This is a double-barrel insult to taxpayers. She is going on a vacation we have to pay for claiming it is diplomacy and the FLOTUS has a role to speak there and tell them how to eat. (or whatever they made-up) Then she claims it is personal, no press.
To further throw salt in the womb she pays homage to a communist country as a rep of US!
The first lady is taking her mother and daughters to three Chinese cities on a 'people-to-people exchange' trip at taxpayer expense
Only 2 out of 22 events on her calendar will give reporters the chance to hear her speak and do any real reporting – but without interviewing her
No reporters are allowed to travel with the first lady on her government aircraft
The White House is declining to say how much the week-long excursion will cost
Mrs. Obama will appear for photo-ops and public events that are 'pooled press' – just one reporter or photographer noting her comings and goings
By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor
First lady Michelle Obama will not take questions from reporters or give interviews during her tour of China that begins today, and members of the press corps who usually follows the first family everywhere can't travel with her entourage.
And although she will make a few speeches with reporters in the room, the picture is largely one of an expensive, taxpayer-funded tourism exercise for Mrs. Obama, her two daughters, and her mother – not the official trip the White House has projected.
White House press officials haven't comment on the record about whether a reported ban on question-and-answer interviews applies equally to American journalists and international reporters.
And limited information made available to MailOnline suggests that only two out of 22 scheduled events on the trip will afford journalists a chance to do any significant reporting – including a solitary speech – but still without interviewing Mrs. Obama.
Both of those events, the White House says, will afford 'limited' space for the press.
Michelle Obama embraces ‘enemy’ Schwarzman
By Geoff Earle/NY Post (http://nypost.com/2014/03/20/michelle-obama-embraces-enemy-schwarzman/)
March 20, 2014 | 2:02am
WASHINGTON — First Lady Michelle Obama is making nice with private-equity billionaire Steve Schwarzman — who once compared her husband to Hitler.
On her whirlwind trip to China, which starts Thursday, the first lady plans to recognize the Blackstone Group CEO for donating $100 million to fund a new scholarship program in Beijing[/b], while helping raise another $200 million. The Schwarzman Scholars program, modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship, will allow US, Chinese and other students to spend a year studying Chinese culture, politics and other fields at Tsingua University in Beijing.
It’s an unusual shout-out for a major New York Republican bundler, who raised big bucks for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012.
But that wasn’t Schwarzman’s biggest black mark in the eyes of Dems.
Democrats slammed Schwarzman in 2010 when he blasted Obama’s plan to raise taxes on “carried interest,” which hedge-funders use to have their earnings taxed at the lower capital-gains rate.
“It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939,” Schwarzman fumed four years ago. He later apologized.
Michelle Obama wore a color-blocked Derek Lam dress with tights as she arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a six-day visit to China accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia and the first lady's mother. The trip is being called "family diplomacy."
(http://www.etonline.com/media/photo/2014/03/24072774/425_michelle_obama_140320_479699489.jpg)
http://www.etonline.com/news/129451_PICS_Michelle_Obama_First_Lady_of_Fashion/index.html (http://www.etonline.com/news/129451_PICS_Michelle_Obama_First_Lady_of_Fashion/index.html)
Back to the dominatrix boots, I see.
First Lady of Fashion
March 20, 2014
Check out First Lady Michelle Obama's most envy-worthy styles through the years!
First up, the First Lady was fashionable as ever in a black-and-nude color-blocked Derek Lam dress -- which she wore with a fierce pair of boots -- as she arrived in Beijing on March 19, 2014 for a six-day visit to China with her equally fashionable daughters Sasha and Malia.
Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, are in China to promote family, a U.S.-China diplomacy, and they are doing it in style.
Obama wore a leather-and-suede patchwork Derek Lam dress. She paired it with thigh high boots, and seemed to be dressed for slightly chilly weather. Sasha and Malia were equally as chic. The sisters wore complementary outfits, as they are known to do.