Thursday of last week, Michelle Obama was in Kansas City. Her speech, made to a group of mostly women, was focused on reinforcing the empathy that her Baby’s Daddy has for women’s issues. As part of her remarks she said:
His own mother, she said at the beginning of her remarks, was “very young and very single when she had him.” And, Obama added, he has observed his wife’s attempts to reconcile motherhood with her career aspirations.
As Michelle is wont to due, she attempted to make herself appear “one of the club” by saying:
He sees me, his wife, who struggles every day with that guilt that we all hold deep in our hearts as women,” she said. “That guilt that you don’t have the choice to stay home, and even if you do, you feel guilty
Michelle, just another victim in a campaign and party full of victims. Michelle, so full of guilt from not having a choice to be a stay at home mom.
What the hell?
In 2004, the Obamas had gross income of approximately $207K. I’ve never heard that they had financial issues so I’ll have to assume they were able to “get by” on that income. At the time, Barack was still an IL legislator and a “Constitutional Professor” and made about $85K. Michelle was a hospital administrator and made, around $122K gross. After tax, they made about $167K
In 2005, things got much better for the Obama’s. Barack’s income rose to about $154K as a US Senator, Barack’s book brought them about $1,141K, Michelle made about $361K. Their after tax income rose significantly to $910K.
Even in 2006 the Obama’s did well. Of a total gross income of $984K, Barack made $157K as a US Senator and $551K from his book. Michelle made $333K.
If $167K after tax was getting them by in 2004, they would have had $743K of excess income they could have invested from their 2005 after tax earnings and $530K from 2005. They could have had nearly $1.3M invested from those two years alone.
Barack now makes $162,500 a year as a US Senator. Let’s bake in a little inflation and say that the Obama’s gross of $207K in 2004, would now need to be about $220K. To make up the difference between Barack’s Senator salary and the inflated gross, they would need to take, let’s call it, $60K each year from their savings to make up the delta if Michelle chose not to work.
Wow! if they had $1.3M in the bank and drew it down at the rate of $60K each year, they could do that for 20+ years and not run out of money….even without considering interest.
Yes they could, except for this one other little event of 2005. The Obama’s decided to trade up a bit. They decided they needed to trade up to a $1.65M home! The result of that one transaction increased their annual expenses for mortgage interest and real estate taxes from $18K in 2004 to $76K in 2006.
I have no doubt that Michelle feels guilty. Michelle probably even feels guilty due to her choice. However, for her to suggest that her guilt is because she doesn’t “have the choice to stay home,” is preposterous and shows her again to be nothing but a pandering elitist.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a neandrathal who thinks women should be chained to a stove. Women should make career and family choices that are the best for them and their families, whatever they and their families think that should be.
Michelle’s choice, was to buy an expensive house. Michelle’s choice could have been to be satisfied to live in the home they had, invest their gain and allow her to stay home with her children…if she had chosen to. If Michelle had chosen not to buy the big house, stay home and use savings…if they really couldn’t get by on $165K each year, the Obama’s would use about half of their savings as income supplement by the time their youngest daughter had graduated from high school.
Yes, Michelle had a choice. However, unlike the claims of her speech, for Michelle, material goods and personal fame won out over her desire to be a stay at home mom.
