White House: Obamas earn $5.5 million in 2009

[Pete]

White House: Obamas earn $5.5 million in 2009

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle made $5.5 million last year and paid nearly $1.8 million in federal income tax.
The Obamas gave $329,000 to charities. That included $50,000 each to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.

The president also donated his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charities.

The White House said the vast majority of the Obamas' income was from sales of the president's books. The president released his 2009 tax return Thursday."

Give credit where credit is due $329,000 and $1.4 Million are a good bit of change. Much better than used underwear from one politician and under $400 from another I think that was Algore.

[dennisw]

I find it interesting. I seem to remember when Newt Gingrich got a book deal when he was leaving the congress, the Democrats were howling about it. Then Hillary and Bill wrote their books, and it appeared to be okay to get a book deal while still in the public service arena. I would assume Obama's book deals have taken place while he was either a senator or president, but no one raises a peep.

It appears to be bad form IMHO. Almost as opportunist as Bill C. and all his speech revenue.

[PedOncoDoc]

Originally Posted by Pete

The White House said the vast majority of the Obamas' income was from sales of the president's books. The president released his 2009 tax return Thursday."

Apparently the tax form is far less personal than a long-form birth certificate, but I digress.

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by dennisw

I find it interesting. I seem to remember when Newt Gingrich got a book deal when he was leaving the congress, the Democrats were howling about it.

I agree that the howling seems to be inconsistent.

Two small points. First, IIRC, the howling started when Ronald Reagan received $2 million to deliver a speech in Japan after leaving the White House. Second, I believe the income the president earned from his book deal are from his two already published memoirs.

For goodness sake. The man's gall. Two memoirs. What had he done to write two memoirs? (Or should I say, have someone ghost write two memoirs?)

It would be interesting--if not a bit mean spirited, or just outright catty--to calculate how much the president's charitable contributions could have saved tax payers if the monies were instead invested in fund that would have supported him during his post-presidential years in lieu of his government pension.

[Pete]

The Bidens

"Bidens donated below-average amount to charity"

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...million-2009b/

"..........Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, earned $333,000 in 2009, and gave $4,820 -- 1.44 percent -- of that to charity in cash or in-kind donations, according to their newly released tax forms........"

Mmm, my cash and in kind donations are just under the Biden's for 2009 - and I earned a whole lot less.

[dennisw]

...Second, I believe the income the president earned from his book deal are from his two already published memoirs.

When you write, already published memoirs, is this prior to him becoming a senator? It seems to me that during the last 12 months, you couldn't swing a dead cat in a Barnes & Noble without hitting a book by or about Obama or Michelle. I'm sure they do not have a vested interest in all of them, but it's like what could actually be in these books? It was almost like Beatlemania in the 60's, or so I've heard.

[dennisw]

"..........Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, earned $333,000 in 2009, and gave $4,820 -- 1.44 percent -- of that to charity in cash or in-kind donations, according to their newly released tax forms........"

This is the same Biden who listed his net worth as $150,000? I seem to remember that one reason he gave for not being worth more, was his large contributions to charity. Maybe the Charity he was talking about was a dancer?

[GratefulCitizen]

This guy hit the nail on the head.

How Obama Himself Made More Than 'Enough Money'
By Jack Cashill


In defending his administration's efforts at putative financial reform, President Obama suggested a ceiling, perhaps government-imposed, for Wall Street executives. Although he did not begrudge them income that is "fairly earned," he added ominously, "I do think that at a certain point, you've made enough money."

The president may be projecting guilt from his own excellent adventures in greed. A surprising 2006 article for the American Century Foundation by liberal publisher Peter Osnos sheds useful light on this subject. As Osnos relates, a 1990 New York Times profile on The Harvard Law Review's first black president caught the eye of a hustling young literary agent named Jane Dystel.

Dystel persuaded Obama to put a book proposal together, and she submitted it. Poseidon, a small imprint of Simon & Schuster, signed on and authorized a roughly $125,000 advance in November 1990 for Obama's proposed memoir.

With advance in hand, Obama repaired to Chicago, where the University of Chicago offered him an office and stipend to help him write. Obama dithered. At one point, in order to finish without interruption, he decamped to Bali for a month. Obama was supposed to have finished the book within a year. Bali or not, advance or no, he could not. He was surely in way over his head.

"Obama had missed deadlines and handed in bloated, yet incomplete drafts," David Remnick tells us in The Bridge. Simon & Schuster lost patience. In the summer of 1993, Simon & Schuster canceled the contract. According to Osnos, the publisher asked that Obama return at least some of the advance

Not surprisingly, the Obama-friendly Remnick skips some of the details that Christopher Andersen includes in his book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage, such as how Obama had spent $75,000 of the advance and could not pay it back. According to Andersen, the publisher let Obama keep the money only after he pled poverty due to "massive student loan debt" -- this despite a combined salary for the still childless Obamas well into six figures, not to mention the trip to Bali and a trip to Kenya for the couple as well.

As Osnos tells it, Dystel did not give up. She solicited Times Books, the division of Random House at which Osnos was publisher. He met with Obama, took his word that he could finish the book, and authorized a new advance of $40,000.

During this same period, Obama was working as a full-time associate at the law firm of Davis Miner, teaching classes at the University of Chicago Law School, and spinning through a social whirl that would have left Scarlett O'Hara dizzy. Writes Remnick, "He and Michelle accepted countless invitations to lunches, dinners, cocktail parties, barbecues, and receptions for right minded charities." Obama had also joined the East Bank Club, a combined gym and urban country club, and served on at least a few charitable boards.

In addition, Obama, as Remnick admits, was a slow writer. He would later explain his plodding, 19th-century technique to Daphne Durham of Amazon. "I would work off an outline -- certain themes or stories that I wanted to tell -- and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then I'd edit while typing in what I'd written."

As Andersen tells it, Obama found himself deeply in debt and "hopelessly blocked." At "Michelle's urging," Obama "sought advice from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers." What attracted the Obamas were "Ayers's proven abilities as a writer." Noting that Obama had already taped interviews with many of his relatives, both African and American, Andersen elaborates, "These oral histories, along with his partial manuscript and a trunkload of notes were given to Ayers." The result was Dreams From My Father.

Although Dreams did not do particularly well in 1995, the sales shot through the roof after Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. As Osnos relates, Obama unceremoniously dumped his devoted longtime agent after Dreams took off and then signed a seven-figure deal with Crown, using only a by-the-hour attorney.

Obama pulled off the deal after his election but before being sworn in as Senator in order to avoid the disclosure and reporting requirements applicable to members of Congress. Although an Obama-supporter, Osnos publicly scolds Obama for his "ruthlessness" and "his questionable judgment about using public service as a personal payday."

As to the question of income "fairly earned," Obama makes Fabrice 'Fabulous Fab' Tourre look like a lumberjack.

"... not ... because we begrudge success that is fairly earned."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/...more_th_1.html

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

I agree that the howling seems to be inconsistent.

Two small points. First, IIRC, the howling started when Ronald Reagan received $2 million to deliver a speech in Japan after leaving the White House. Second, I believe the income the president earned from his book deal are from his two already published memoirs.

For goodness sake. The man's gall. Two memoirs. What had he done to write two memoirs? (Or should I say, have someone ghost write two memoirs?)

It would be interesting--if not a bit mean spirited, or just outright catty--to calculate how much the president's charitable contributions could have saved tax payers if the monies were instead invested in fund that would have supported him during his post-presidential years in lieu of his government pension.

I agree with you. Most literate folks agree with you.

[Dad]

Just got my magazine from Fisher House this week. The largest recipient of donations from the Presidents Nobel Prize money was Fisher House. $250,000. All other donations were $125,000 if I remember correctly.