Steve King Attacks Sasha And Malia Obama Over Spring Break Bahamas Vacation
Rep. Steve King, a Republican Congressman from Iowa, blasted President Obama on Wednesday for sending his daughters Malia and Sasha on a spring break vacation to the Bahamas in the midst of a federal sequester aimed at clamping down on government spending.
King was speaking to a radio program called Mickelson in the Morning when a listener called in to criticize First Lady Michelle Obama for taking her two daughters on a Caribbean vacation, according to progressive blog ThinkProgress.
In response to the caller, King tore into the First Family and did not spare Malia or Sasha, 14 and 11, respectively.
"It's hard to stomach," the caller, Carla, said on the talk show. "When we're tightening our belts, we should either all do it or none of us do it," she said, referring to sequestration and its subsequent series of automatic spending cuts which went into effect in early March because Congress and President Obama were unable to reach an agreement regarding the budget.
"Carla, you're on point and on the mark all the way through," King said in response to the caller before mentioning the First Family's trip to Mexico last year. "That was at our expense, too. And now to the Bahamas at one of the most expensive places there. That is the wrong image to be coming out of the White House."
Although the Obama family cover the cost themselves of the vacations in question, many critics point to the mounting costs spent on security to protect the President or his family during such holidays away from the White House.
The Congressman, who is rumored to be considering a run for the Senate next year, has long been outspoken regarding President Obama and often critical of his decisions.
In 2008, in anticipation of the 2008 presidential election, King famously forecast that "the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida...and their supporters [would be] dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11" if Obama were elected.
The full audio from King's radio appearance is available here.
