[img]1|left|Ari Noonan||no_popup[/img]Bathing in the warm afterglow of the largest House-cleaning in Washington in 72 years, we have sat back and silently grinned this week while the scarlet-faced boys on the left resume their Rumplestiltskin defense of the Used Shoe Salesman in the White House.

Used, as his BFFs call him, should have gone out to the family garage this chilly D.C. morning and cranked up the family Piper Cub for a long trip.

Elitists don’t fly coach, pal.

The Obamas haven’t been anywhere in hours.

Brace yourselves.

Overwhelmed by the nationwide repudiation of his extreme policies, the President is fleeing town on a junket worthy of the history books. Accompanied by a whopping 2,000 people, he will cost taxpayers $200 million a day for the 10 days that his partying party is out of town.

Now this is what I call a reflective leader. Rather, he resembles a bookie who suddenly made himself scarce before the cops arrived.

And Away We Go

Used’s abuse of the Presidential traveling privilege will have to be told by historians because the contemporary media is obsessed with bootlicking — led these days by sullen Andy Cooper of CNN.

Two years ago today, Used took office. By last November, he already had exceeded the Presidential travel budget for four years.

There isn’t that much for him to do in Washington anyway. He can vilify Republicans from anywhere on the planet.

The breathtakingly overtaxed Obama Travel Agency is now the second most lucrative enterprise in America. If Used isn’t fleeing Washington, Mad Michelle is.

Ahh, the newly rich. Fitzgerald said the rich are different from you and me. Yes, I think most Americans can draw that distinction between themselves and the Obamas.

How superior these left-wing lollipops feel in comparison to us lowly old Shanty Irish.

The Obamas’ repeated opulence is so blatant it embarrasses sensible Democrats.

How Much, Andy?

The story here, however, is how mechanically and blindly reporters on the left — especially Chris Matthews of MSNBC and Mr. Cooper — have been this week in crudely defending the President and denying that the cost is the widely advertised $200 million.

The source is an unnamed person in the Indian government, a public relations common practice. The Obama administration is notorious for this.

Bitter partisans that they are, both Mr. Matthews and Mr. Cooper belittled U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-MN), to her face and after their interviews, for not identifying the Indian source by name.

He said this was a flimsy way to attack the President.

Replied the effete Mr. Cooper:

“We have no idea who this person is. No name was given. It was an anonymous quote, the conduct Sarah Palin has recently been railing against. Some reporter in India wrote this article with this figure in it. No proof was given, no follow-up reporting done.”

Fair enough for the moment.

As the Huffington Post noted, Mr. Cooper opened yesterday’s AC360 show by promising to refute “a made-up story about the President of the United States.” He stressed that it was “not [my] job to defend the president,” but that there were plenty of real things to criticize President Obama about without resorting to falsehoods.

Mr. Cooper, who loathes Republicans, also said:

“Michele Bachmann used up our air time last night, rather than answering questions about Medicare…and she chose to spread a story which is blatantly false.” How does the wise Mr. Cooper know the $200 million assertion is phony?

He read an, ahem, anonymous note on the White House Blog that said it was false. The, ahem, anonymous denier said he couldn’t reveal the true cost because that would breach security.

By thunder, I find that comment truly convincing. Yowzah, yowzah.