Is President Obama a Champagne Socialist?

President Barack Obama talks a lot aboutdd wanting the "rich" to pay their fair share in taxes. Dear readers, we may now have a better idea why the President is so unwilling to compromise on this subject. He needs the extra tax dollars to pay for his Hawaiian vacations. His four vacations to Hawaii since becoming President may cost taxpayers “in excess of $20 million, and possibly much, much more,’’ the White House Dossier, a private White House tracker, reports. A breakdown by the Hawaii Reporter shows his trips in 2009, 2010, and 2011 cost about $4 million, much of it for Air Force One. To that must be added costs like flights for advance teams, as well as Michelle Obama's two separate flights to Hawaii. When Obama returned from Hawaii between Christmas and New Year to work on the fiscal cliff deal and then returned to Honolulu, the second Air Force One round trip added about $3.24 million to the presidential holiday travel tab, bringing the 2012-2013 vacation cost to over $7 million, the Reporter said. “If we assume the estimates are probably quite low, then it’s likely that the bill for the combined vacations is more than $20 million,’’ said the Dossier’s Keith Koffler. “Given that much of the cost involves transporting the First Family and its retinue, the Obamas could have saved taxpayers millions by doing what the vast majority of Americans do: taking either one trip a year, or none," Koffler said, while others argue that the President is justified in vacationing each year in Hawaii because that is where he was born and grew up. “How many of us get to go visit our roots for a two week vacation every year?“ Koffler asked. The sad reality is that the Obamas probably don't even consider that their lavish vacation trips cost middle class taxpayers more than they could ever afford for themselves, even for a once in a lifetime vacation. It's another example of what Europeans call "champagne socialists" - the rich leftist / socialists who take up political careers in the effort to tax everyone (but themselves) in order to flatten the income differences created by a market economy, by "robbing" the rich to "give" to the poor. But few are the champagne socialists who actually give up their lavish lifestyles by giving their money directly to the needy. They prefer to keep their own wealth and, instead, redistribute middle class tax payments and benefit concert proceeds. President Obama is no different. His favorite haunts, besides golf courses - it has been reported that he has played more rounds of golf than any other President, are New York City and Hollywood, where he mingles with other champagne socialists and touches them up for campaign contributions. The contributions roll in because his donors hope to keep their tax niches intact. Obama's Hawaii vacations are just the tip of the iceberg.