Michelle Obama taking an impromptu trip to Target seemed kind of cute a few weeks ago. Here's the first lady of the United States, folks, trying to be "one of us." But even this card carrying member of the Mrs. O. Fan Club is having a problem with our president's wife acting like a teenager shimmying down the drain pipe to sneak out of the White House.
Mrs. Obama showed up on the Today show to tell Al Roker that her Target trip was less of a one-off, more of an all-the-gosh-darn-time occurrence. She goes to Petco with Bo! She hits Starbucks for a latte! She even throws Let's Move caution to the wind and gets her Chipotle fix, all by her damn self!
Um, hello? American citizen here? Speaking out on behalf of the Secret Service?
Getting out and about to make Sasha and Malia's life "as normal as possible" is a laudable goal for the first mom. They didn't run for the presidency, their dad did. Why should they have to order their first box of tampons off the Internet and then have the box inspected by five different guys to ensure it's not a bomb?
But don't they make the newest occupants of the White House sit through a screening of Guarding Tess? We know what those feisty first ladies put the nation's top cops through.
Anyone else thinking that 10 years after the Obamas exit the White House, when the Secret Service contract for a former president and his spouse expires, she's going to get a "don't let the doorknob hit you where the good Lord split you" letter from her protective detail? She's got to be making their lives a living hell!
Just think, you're sitting around the West Wing, all dressed up with a natty suit and James Bond gadgets, when Michelle Obama comes out and says, "Boys, Sasha needs the new Justin Bieber nail polish, so we're hitting the Tar-jay." And wham, bam, thank you ma'am, you're thinking, "OMG, I have to jump in front of a bullet for this woman because she can't use Amazon Prime like a normal person."
I object! Not as a taxpayer, really, because those guys are on our dime all the time anyway (something that all those knuckleheads who complain when Mrs. Obama takes a trip just don't seem to get). BUT on behalf of some guys who really put their lives on the line for our country, I can't help feeling bad for them.
The security planning that goes into a president or first lady's appearance anywhere is reportedly intense. But every time Mrs. Obama goes rogue, she's walking into unsecured areas where nutjobs may or may not be lurking, and dragging these guys with her. And she wants to have fun! Be normal! The least she could do is throw a bottle of Tums in the cart for her detail every time she puts them through that kind of agita.
Do you think it's fair for Michelle Obama to sneak out of the White House all the time?
Image via White House/Flickr