She's flying all over the place-- Spain, Hawaii, Chicago, now Africa. all on our dime. Hey Michelle, its gonna suck when you have to start flying commercial in January 2013.

Michelle Obama arrives in South Africa with family

PRETORIA — Michelle Obama arrived in Pretoria late Monday for what officials have billed as her first major solo overseas trip as US first lady, to South Africa and Botswana.

She arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria at 9:15 pm (1915 GMT).

Obama was accompanied by her daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson -- but not her husband, US President Barack Obama -- for the trip focusing on young women leaders and the legacy of the anti-apartheid struggle.

The first lady, wearing a formal red and black jacket and black pants, was greeted by South African Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, US ambassador to South Africa Donald Gips, his wife Liz and three sons.

She was given a bouquet of flowers by three girls aged 10 and 11, and her daughters were each given a blanket emblazoned with the South African flag.

Obama waved to journalists before heading to two black cars waiting in front of the plane.

Gips told journalists: "We are very excited. ... This shows the respect we have for South Africa. She (Obama) is looking forward to the visit -- as South Africa is looking into hosting her."

Obama is scheduled to meet one of South African President Jacob Zuma's wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, in Pretoria on Tuesday morning before heading to Johannesburg for a visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, where she will get a tour from the former president's wife, Graca Machel.

On Tuesday afternoon, Obama will visit a daycare centre in Johannesburg and tour the Apartheid Museum, which chronicles the history of the struggle against white-minority rule.

The six-day trip will also take the first lady to Cape Town and the Botswanan capital Gaborone.

Obama has a packed schedule that includes a safari in Botswana, a visit with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in Cape Town and a trip to the memorial for Hector Pieterson -- a 12-year-old student killed during the anti-apartheid Soweto uprising in 1976.

She will also give the keynote address at a conference of the Young African Women Leaders Forum, a two-day meeting of 75 women aged 16 to 30 who are playing leadership roles across the continent.

The visit is Obama's second trip to sub-Saharan Africa, after a 24-hour stop in Ghana with her husband in 2009.

The US State Department described the visit as a mix of policy trip and personal pilgrimage.

"She's coming on this trip to talk about women's development and youth development, and South Africa's a leader in that, not only on the continent but globally," said Elizabeth Trudeau, spokeswoman at the US embassy in Pretoria.

The White House has emphasised the importance to the first family of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, which President Obama has called his first political cause.

Trudeau said the White House considers this Obama's "first major overseas trip". Obama made her first solo trip as first lady last year, stopping briefly in Haiti before continuing on to Mexico for a three-day visit.

Relations between the United States and South Africa have suffered a number of diplomatic strains this year.

In March, South Africa allowed exiled Haitian ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return home, despite a personal appeal from President Obama to keep him in South Africa until after a presidential run-off election that Washington feared he would destabilise.

President Zuma has also lashed out at the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya, which Washington supports.

Nomfundo Ngwenya, a political analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said the visit is a way for the Obama administration to pay attention to South Africa even though the president is tied up at home with a struggling economy and looming elections.

"He's saying that South Africa is still important and also advancing his wife's interests, which includes women's advancement," Ngwenya told AFP.

But she said at some point President Obama will himself have to visit South Africa, the continent's largest economy.

"Michelle is not a head of state or a decision-maker," she said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art...cc0152.6f1

Sounds like a worthwhile trip and seems to serve a good purpose.

PS. Yes, I realize some if it won't be "business".

(06-21-2011 02:43 AM)RobertN Wrote:  Sounds like a worthwhile trip and seems to serve a good purpose.

PS. Yes, I realize some if it won't be "business".

She's not a public official. None of it is business.

(06-21-2011 08:45 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 02:43 AM)RobertN Wrote:  Sounds like a worthwhile trip and seems to serve a good purpose.

PS. Yes, I realize some if it won't be "business".

She's not a public official. None of it is business.

I put business in quotes for a reason. I couldn't come up with a better word to describe it at 2am.

She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

In her defense she might know there aren't 57 states.

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

She said exactly what she mean to say... The *worst* part is that she would not own up to it. I would respect her more if she answered criticism with honesty.

(06-21-2011 11:31 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

She said exactly what she mean to say... The *worst* part is that she would not own up to it. I would respect her more if she answered criticism with honesty.

Someone had a little too much wine in church today.

This is what happens when elected officials start thinking of themselves as royalty. Of course the other hypothesis is that Barry and Michelle want to live it up now because who knows how much time they will have left to live like kings and queens...

(06-21-2011 10:25 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

Payback is gonna be a ***** after next election. I'm saving all these threads so I can throw them back up in your face .002 nanoseconds after you start bitching.

Remember how much grief Sununu got?

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

What she screwed up is that she said it in public.

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

Screwed up hell, that's her view and she said it twice.

We live in a YouTube world.

(06-21-2011 10:55 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2011 10:36 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  She does like spending other peoples money. She has to show that, "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"

Are you still on her for that? She ****** up what she wanted to say. It is not like she screwed up a historical facts or something.

Roberta, you can cheer lead all you want, you can delude yourself with all the regurgitation you can handle, but the record speaks for itself, she meant exactly what she said. Admit to yourself that you are a useful idiot. You may need a leave of absence to heal yourself.

South Africa President Jacob Zuma has snubbed the visiting Michelle Obama by sending his prisons minister to meet the first lady at the airport and failing to see her during her three-day stay.

Mr Zuma was out of the country for the first day of Mrs Obama's second solo trip abroad on Tuesday and although he returned on Monday night, aides said he was "not available" to meet her. Instead, he arranged for Corrective Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to greet her on her arrival in Pretoria on Monday night, and one of his three wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, to meet her briefly on Tuesday. Mrs Obama, her daughters Sasha and Malia and her mother Marian Robinson, were also granted a rare audience with 92-year-old former president Nelson Mandela at his Johannesburg home. It was Mrs Obama's first encounter with the global icon, although her husband Barack Obama met him when still a senator on a 2006 Africa tour. Mrs Obama's aides revealed that a mobile phone photograph taken of that meeting now hangs in Mr Mandela's office. When Mrs Obama made her first solo trip, to Mexico, she was guest of honour at a state dinner hosted by President Calderón and his wife. Her visit to South Africa is aimed at advancing her international youth engagement agenda as well as highlighting Mr Obama's support for "democracy, development and economic opportunities across Africa". But it coincides with a cooling in relations between South Africa and the United States. Last week, President Jacob Zuma issued a sharp riposte to an appeal by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to African leaders to help remove Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi. "We strongly believe that the (UN Security Council) resolution is being abused for regime change, political assassinations and foreign military occupation," he told parliament the day after Mrs Clinton's speech. South African officials insisted that Mr Zuma was simply busy - and Mrs Obama had rejected the offer of a meeting at 9am on Wednesday because she was making a speech in Soweto. Zizi Kodwa, Mr Zuma's spokesman, refused to discuss the president's appointments in the coming days, but said his diary was full and could not easily be changed. "Even when the president is in South Africa, he is not on holiday and cannot meet anybody at any time," he said. "Why is he not meeting the head of state of an African country who is coming to South Africa? Because he has a schedule." Clayson Monyela, spokesman for South Africa's foreign office, said that since Mrs Obama is not a head of state or cabinet minister, there was no onus on Mr Zuma to meet her. "It's totally wrong to suggest this is a snub," he said. "If Mr Zuma or the International Relations minister were in the country they would have met her. We recognise this is a historic visit and that's why she has been welcomed by senior cabinet ministers." Professor Chris Landsberg, head of the University of Johannesburg's politics department and a guest lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of South Africa's foreign office, said even if it was not a snub, it was a "missed opportunity". "There is no doubt there's been some irritation on both sides over Libya and I would have expected them to meet if he was in the country," he said. "It might perhaps have been a chance for Mrs Obama to pass some direct messages from her husband, clarify the position and ease some tensions."

Is there a rule that says the first lady is supposed to be treated like royalty everywhere she goes?

(06-21-2011 09:13 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Is there a rule that says the first lady is supposed to be treated like royalty everywhere she goes?

Well, there ought to be a law...