Northwest Indiana Discussion

First Lady Michelle Obama impressed fashion experts and amateurs alike with her inaugural outfit Monday morning created by New York-based designer Thom Browne, mostly known for his menswear collections.

The First Lady wore a navy silk jacquard coat and dress outfit in a checked pattern specially designed for her.

“I wanted ‘tailored’ for her. For me, she stands for strength and confidence, and that’s what I wanted to design for her,” Browne told the Associated Press about his creation for the First Lady’s inaugural dress.

According to the designer, the outfit was inspired by a men’s silk tie. It is unclear what the cost of the outfit was, but it could likely be at least $10,000, according to Enstars’ estimates. However, the actual price has not been confirmed and there is no word yet on whether the dress and coat outfit will be rolled out for customers.

Pleated dresses from Browne’s pre-fall 2013 collection for example, range from $3,500 to $4,400 while a knee length tailored coat from the same collection, similar in shape to the one worn by Mrs. Obama is prized at $5,100.

President Barack Obama will fly over 9 hours tomorrow, round-trip from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas, Nevada, just to deliver a speech on immigration, according to the president’s White House schedule. With Air Force One estimated to cost $182,000 per hour in flight, Obama’s trip–that is, only his travel to and from Vegas–will cost taxpayers over $1.6 million.

Obama has no other public events scheduled in Las Vegas but his immigration speech.

“In the morning, the President will depart the White House en route Las Vegas, Nevada. The departure from the South Lawn and the arrival at McCarran International Airport are open press,” the president’s schedule reads.

First Lady Michelle Obama plans to vacation in Aspen, Colorado this Presidents’ Day weekend, separately from her husband, who will land this evening in West Palm Beach for his own down time with the boys.

According to Aspen newspapers, both Michelle and Vice President Biden are expected on the slopes. The White House has not yet announced the trip, and it’s not clear when she will be leaving, though she will presumably go today.

Michelle’s separate excursion from the president means that, even as the government prepares to slash spending as the March 1 sequester approaches, taxpayers will be footing the bill for two separate Obama vacations, paying for items like travel and the expensive security and staff entourages that accompany them everywhere.

In the first three months of the year, members of the first family have been on three vacations, averaging a vacation a month. And now it’s being reported that the first daughters are on a spring break vacation in the Bahamas.

The Obamas began the new year in Hawaii. “President Obama departed Hawaii this morning for Washington, after spending NINE days vacationing with family and friends in his native state. Here’s a quick look at how he spent his vacation,” ABC reported on January 6, 2013.

“Obama played FIVE rounds of golf with SEVEN different partners, spending roughly THIRTY hours on TWO different courses on Oahu. The president made FIVE early morning trips to the gym at the nearby Marine Base at Kaneohe Bay. The First Family spent TWO afternoons enjoying the beach on the base and went for ONE hike to a local waterfall. The president spent ONE father-daughter afternoon with Malia and Sasha, bowling and going out for shave ice, an annual tradition.”

Sun Valley, Idaho ( KMVT-TV) — Sun Valley is known to be a getaway for celebrities and the First Family is no different.

In an exclusive photo obtained by Idaho’s First News, you can see the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama skiing at River Run Thursday.

The Sun Valley Ski Patrol confirms the girls were enjoying the wonders of the mountain. We also received unconfirmed reports the daughters were staying at Thunder Spring in Sun Valley.

A local resident weighs in on the Obamas’ presence in town.

Bill Collins, Representative, Sun Valley Visitor Center says, “they’re allowed to relax. They can just be themselves here. It’s not a ‘show-offy’ place, they can just be who they are.”

It’s unclear if Michelle Obama joined Malia and Sasha in Sun Valley.

Last year President Obama sent his girls to Mexico for Spring Break.

Vice President Biden today is enjoying his third vacation of the year, a five day sojourn on South Carolina’s luxurious Kiawah Island, where he will no doubt partake of his favorite pastime, golf.

Biden and his wife Jill arrived on the island – known as a golf mecca – Thursday night and are not scheduled to depart before Monday.

Biden’s trip is the latest episode in a bout of rampant vacationing by the First and Second Families, who have been roaring out of Washington this year on taxpayer-funded excursions even as the deficit mounts and the sequester axes jobs and critical spending on other priorities.

While both President Obama and Biden pick up some of the tab for their recreational travel, the bulk of the costs – including flights aboard Air Force One and Air Force Two and security and staff needs – are billed to taxpayers.

Bill and Hillary Clinton, actress Kerry Washington, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and producer Harvey Weinstein were among those who joined the Obamas at the White House’s secret post-inauguration bash.

President Obama and Michelle Obama held the hush-hush, swanky, ultra-A-list party to celebrate his second term the night he took the oath of office. The party was not announced or listed on his official schedule, but a few of the guests tweeted about the event, which is what publicly revealed its existence.

The guest list that reveals who attended was never released though the White House visitors log from January, which came out at the end of April and was examined by The Hill: a mix of rock stars, actors, top campaign donors, White House aides, Obama friends and leading Democratic politicians.

Some of the names include actor Jamie Foxx; Obama adviser David Axelrod; Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas) and his twin brother, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro; singer Kelly Clarkson; Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.); actress Eva Longoria; singer James Taylor; former NBA player Alonzo Mourning; Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D); and former White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. Clinton aide Huma Abedin was on the list, but her husband, former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, was not.

Other names in the grouping include Commerce Secretary nominee Penny Pritzker; longtime Obama friends Eric and Cheryl Whitaker; Obama aides/advisers Ben Rhodes, Jim Messina, Julianna Smoot and Jeremy Bird; actress Whoopi Goldberg; Gayle King; actress Jennifer Hudson; and Attorney General Eric Holder.

President Obama’s $100 million trip to African offers “great bang for our buck,” the White House said Friday.

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes defended the cost of Obama’s upcoming trip to South Africa, Senegal and Tanzania, which could cost taxpayers as much as $100 million.

He said the White House doesn’t determine the cost of security, and argued traveling to the often overlooked region would help the U.S.

“Frankly, there will be a great bang for our buck for being in Africa, because when you travel to regions like Africa that don’t get a lot of presidential attention, you can have very long-standing and long-running impact from the visit,” Rhodes said.

The White House spokesman added that “the president’s not going to retreat from an entire continent on terms of the cost.”

First Lady Michelle Obama is staying Monday evening in the $3,300-per-night Princess Grace suite of Dublin’s Five-Star Shelbourne Hotel, according to Irish press reports, adding some credence to accusations she is in the city for a quick vacation at taxpayer expense.

Michelle jetted to Dublin Monday afternoon Irish time after a brief stop in Belfast with President Obama, who is in the city for the two-day G-8 Summit.

The White House is billing Michelle’s trip to Dublin as having diplomatic significance, but her itinerary suggests otherwise. She and her daughters will visit the Trinity College library to explore President Obama’s Irish family roots, attend a performance by the world-famous Riverdance troupe, and visit the Wicklow Mountains national forest.

In a rare public rebuke from a fellow Democrat, President Obama was urged today to reconsider a planned trip to Africa later this month, as one lawmaker in his own party took to the House floor to say it sends the wrong message at a time of automatic budget cuts.

“A trip of this magnitude isn’t unusual,” said Rep. John Barrow, a more conservative Democrat from Georgia. “But these are hard times.”

Barrow referred to recent reports in the Washington Post, which estimated the upcoming trip to Africa would cost taxpayers upwards of $100 million – he said that’s almost the exact amount of negative impact from the sequester on his home state’s economy.

“$100 million could be better used to keep folks on the job,” said Barrow, who earlier this year decided against a 2014 bid for U.S. Senate in Georgia.