Sending the Wrong Signal: The Obamas

We have an economy that is out of balance. It’s one in which most of the people in this room have benefited enormously over the last decade — and I include myself in that group. But it is an economy that has left millions of Americans behind” (Obama, political.com).

It’s the DNC, August 20, 2024: A crestfallen Michelle Obama, dressed in a belted, sleeveless, navy blue pant suit costing $3000 plus, shares lessons she’s learned from her family legacy, her audience, mesmerized and adoring:

…they were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed. They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else wanted around us was drowning.

Her words trigger flashback, a former president, his trademark poise and eloquence, exhorting the wealthy to give back.

As she speaks, millions of Americans struggle daily with making ends meet. Thirty-eight percent of Gen Zers, born since 1997, think themselves less secure than their parents at the same point, their living expenses ceasingly escalating (cnbc.com)—groceries, housing, transportation, clothing, their jobs tentative or inadequately remunerated. Even with a college degree, obtained at considerable debt, the American dream eludes their quest.

In a CNN poll conducted earlier this year, 71% of Americans rated the economy “poor”; another 38%, “very poor.”

Millennials (born 1981-1996), find themselves burdened with crushing debt, subjecting them to losing it all if another financial crisis occurs like that of 2008.

Since 2022, house prices alone have mushroomed 20 to 30% and interest rates jumped from 3% to nearly 8%. It’s become cheaper to rent than own.

Having children is a luxury (“What Broke the American Dream,” CNN, 2024).

The tab for childcare at a day care center runs an average $800-$900 monthly per child (care.com).

A family’s outlay for a health insurance policy reimbursing 70% of medical expenses averages $3,682 as of August, 2024 (kff.org).

While Michelle speaks, 132,232 homeless seek nightly shelter in NYC, 45, 745 of them children (June, 2024; coalition forthehomeless.com).

They’re the lucky ones. Thousands more sleep in subways, in parks, on the streets, or in cars.

Across America, you see them on city street corners with their cardboard signs, begging help.

As for racial demographics, 52% of heads of households in NYC shelters are disproportionately black; 32% hispanic (coalition for the homeless).

In 2021, an estimated 300,000 of all races and ethnicities in NY state lived doubled up with relatives and friends.

HUD reports an estimated 653,100 people across America are homeless, up 12% since 2022. Their numbers include not only the mentally ill and drug addicts, but the unemployed and underemployed.

Those numbers include 200,000 veterans, suffering post-traumatic stress from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, sleeping nightly on city streets (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans).

All too often, we’ve this tendency to compartmentalize: it’s them, not us.

Truth be told, millions of Americans are separated from homelessness by a thin thread of tentative circumstance in a market economy where jobs can vanish in an inkling amid economic flux.

Meanwhile, the Obamas have financially estranged themselves from the the middle class they claim ro champion, their estimated net worth between $70 and $135 million, and climbing (NY Post, September 26, 2024).

Why shouldn’t the Obamas, having decried greed on many occasions, not be scrutinized, their feet held to the fire?

Let’s take a closer look.

After leaving the White House, the Obamas purchased a home in D. C.’s plush Kalorama neighborhood of diplomats, the wealthy, and the famous, for $8.1 million (2017). At 8,200 sq. feet, it features 8 bedrooms and 9 1/2 bathrooms. They’ve since made extensive revisions, adding a pool and a brick wall surrounding the property. Parking is available for ten cars.

Not long after (2020), they purchased a 29.3 acre property on exclusive Martha’s Vineyard with pristine water views and a dedicated pathway to the ocean beach. At 6,892 sq. feet, it has 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms and special design features. Cost: $11.5 million.

In 2000, the Obamas purchased a residence in Kenwood, a suburb adjacent to Chicago, featuring six bedrooms and six baths for a modest $1.65 million. They lived there from 2004-2008, or until Barack Obama became president. Frequented by tourists and blocked off, the Obamas are seldom there.

In 2015 Obama’s close friend, financier Marty Nesbitt, purchased a three acre Oahu property for the Obamas in a proxy deal for $8.7 million. Its $15 million dollar mansion, formerly home to Magnum PI TV series, has been leveled to accommodate something more grandiose, a compound consisting of three homes, one of them presumably for Secret Service. 

It hasn’t hasn’t been without controversy. Despite state and county laws protecting the coastal environment against the intrusion of sea walls, believed to inhibit beach migration inward, loopholes were exploited and exemptions granted to build a 70 foot seawall.

Obama, the environmental president, is keeping silent, deferring any comments to Nesbitt’s office.

Setting the record straight, the Ivy League Obamas have never been absent from privilege, victims of white bias or corporate exclusion—or bluntly, unemployed.

While a Senator, Barack and Michelle collectively earned $1.6 million.

As President, he made $400,000 along with a $50,000 expense account, a $100,000 tax free travel account, and $19,000 entertainment account (afrotech.com).

In retirement, former presidents receive $1 million in travel expenses yearly; their spouses, $500,000 (ntu.org).

There’s also a generous allowance for office space and staff.

According to Business Insider, Obama garnered $15.6 million in book royalties from 2005-2016.

He presently receives a $246,424 pension, indexed to inflation (National Tax Union Foundation).

With more than five years in Federal office, medical care at the nation’s best hospitals, is free, unlike for millions of retired Americans paying up to $200 monthly for Medicare that excludes vision, hearing and dental benefits and makes it necessary for seniors to fill in the gaps for deductibles and copays with supplemental insurance and a drug plan.

Their social security is likely to be taxed.

Longterm care for a dehabilitating illness or injury is out-of-reach for most middle class Americans, averaging $35,000 to $108,000 annually (National Council on Aging).

Since leaving the White House, Obama reportedly received $850,000 for two speeches and $2 million for three talks in 2017.

In 2018, the Obamas entered into an estimated $50 million production deal with Netflix.

Business Insider estimates the Obamas will ultimately earn $250 million in post White House earnings for books, speeches, tours, and movie productions.

As for Michelle, last year saw her walk away with $750,000 for a one hour speech in Germany before the Bits and Pretzels forum in Munich associated with the annual Oktoberfest (NY Post, September 26, 2024).

Her normal speaking fee starts at $200,000. Barack commands a minimal $400,000, matching Joe Biden’s annual presidential salary in every speech.

For her memoir, Becoming (2018), Michelle received a $65 million advance.

In Becoming, Michelle wrote, “When you’re president of the United States, words matter.” They do, but doing matters more.

Exemplary leadership seeks not its own gain, but the welfare of the many. It sets precedent for a new politics that eschews platitude, the ethereal, and the partisan. Centering on doing, it knows its limits. Simplicity and restraint govern its personal conduct in daily life. In its moral construct, it sets an example that inspires and achieves a democratic altruism transcending the factional.

On the other hand, economic advisor and Huffington columnist Zachary Carter writes, “Obama isn’t running for office again, but his sellout sends even uglier signals to the electorate.”

As for the Democratic Party, dominated by managers, venture capitalists, Hollywood and media celebs, it can no longer boast being the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have so little.”

–rj