“Maybe it would be asking too much…”
In what may be a prime example of turnabout being fair play, one of the leading conservative publications in the nation, Commentary Magazine, published a very public call on Oct. 7, 2013 for Barack Obama’s mother-in-law to get the boot from her swanky digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Michelle Obama’s mother, Miriam Robinson, left Chi-Town and took up residence at the White House the same day the Family Obama did, all at taxpayer expense.
In light of the fact that private citizens have been getting the heave-ho from their own homes that happen to be on federal property, Commentary’s Michael Rubin called for Miriam Robinson to receive the same treatment her son-in-law has imposed on others.
One of Rubin’s examples, also cited by my LU colleague Howard Portnoy, is an elderly couple who was evicted from the Lake Mead home they’ve owned and occupied since the 1970s because the cabin happens to be legally sitting on federal land.
Despite no federal employees or taxpayer funds having anything to do with the homesteaders, they were given 24 hours to high-tail it out og their privately owned home and the order to stay out until “a budget is passed and the park can reopen.”
Blunt and to the point, Rubin opined flatly:
Michelle Obama has referred to her mom in a stump speech, talking about her residence in the South Side of Chicago. Perhaps it’s time to head back.
Maybe it would be asking too much for the president and his immediate family to vacate his federally-provided residence for the duration of the shutdown, but if Obama is willing to interpret the law to evict the aging and elderly from private buildings and businesses which may sit on federal land but which do not require federal services, then it’s well past time to end the hypocrisy and send Robinson to a nearby hotel.
