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10-10-2009
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Michelle Obama
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Subject: How Much is Michelle Obama Worth?
As reported by Andrew Clark in
Politics Daily,
So when GWU's [George Washington University's]
school paper, the GW Hatchet, reported on Sept. 14 that
first lady Michelle Obama had issued a "day of service" challenge
to GW students — complete 100,000 community service hours,
and in return, she will be the university's 2010 commencement
speaker — the news took campus by storm.
In the article you can read about the controversial give-and-take
between various students and groups on the campus over this
proposal. But my interest lies elsewhere.
Ms. Obama certainly seems to have a high opinion of her own worth.
In exchange for a 30-40 minute speech at a university, she expects
students to take 100,000 hours of their valuable time away from
their studies and invest it in "community service" projects. Once
again, using the federal minimum wage of $7.50/hour, this means
that she is demanding a minimum of $750,000 of the students' time in
exchange for less than one hour of hers!
According to Slate's
The Big Money,
mid-range commencement speakers can command between
$30-50,000
per engagement, while big names like Rudy Giuliani are worth up to
$75,000. Even the master, Bill Clinton, who, as President,
figured out that he could lease out bedrooms at the White House, could
get only $350,000
for giving a speech on the most popular topic of all — trashing
George Bush!
Wait, I have an idea! Why doesn't Ms. Obama lead by example and
practice what she preaches. Shouldn't she simply donate her time
as a community service, and give the speech at GWU for free,
without demanding extra-curricular work from the students? But of
course not! That kind of thinking is only for suckers.
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