The Gap Between Facts and Rhetoric

Carol Platt Liebau | February 28, 2011 4:55 PM

Remember during the 2008 campaign, when Michelle Obama regularly decried how difficult it was for ordinary families (like hers) to make ends meet?

It doesn't strike me that, for all the complaining, that the Obamas' lives were very ordinary. This profile of The White House trainer indicates that both President and Mrs. Obama have had a private trainer for more than a decade (which would mean even before they turned 40, when Mrs. Obama complained that they were still repaying student loans).

And then there's Sam Kass, now a White House chef, who was the Obamas' personal chef when they lived in Chicago.

Hey, kudos to the Obamas for being able to have hired their own chef and trainer. But like so much about the first couple generally, the facts about their pre-presidential days certainly seem at odds with the rhetoric about it that we heard at the time.