Michelle Obama, the US First Lady, may have hoped to enjoy a quiet summer break in southern Spain with her younger daughter and a few friends. But she obviously didn't count on the European media documenting her every flamenco dance step and critics back home questioning the wisdom of such a lavish vacation in a time of austerity.
As Mrs. Obama and her entourage toured the picturesque southern city of Ronda yesterday, the blogosphere was filled with commentary about what many saw as a tone-deaf trip in the same week the United States reported the loss of 131,000 more jobs. "A modern-day Marie Antoinette” scolded a New York Daily News columnist.
The White House was reluctant to discuss Mrs. Obama’s trip. The only official comment came from Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, at a briefing last week when he said that Mrs. Obama “is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I’d leave it at that.”
You can read the full story on the New York Times.
