The Obamas Discuss Dressing On A Budget (VIDEO)

In early July the Obama family sat down for an interview with Maria Menounos of "Access Hollywood." One of the topics discussed was Barack's status as a style icon, which amused his wife and daughters because, as Michelle points out in the interview, his belt and shoes need replacing, and his pants are 10 years old ("I hate to shop," he explains). Michelle also reveals that the sundress she's wearing is from the Gap: "Fortunately now they make really pretty stuff at all price ranges... [Barack] will be happy to know that this is, like, a $30 dress." Her husband then high-fives her, and daughter Sasha announces "Mommy buys everything from Gap!"

WATCH:

"Mommy" also buys things from H&M:

This dress cost $34.95.

**Read about the RNC's $150,000 spending spree to outfit the Palin family.

**See Obama's shoes (with holes in the soles).

**See a slideshow of more Obama family moments.

Comments

[dansup]

what beauty and intelligence, I hope only good things for this lovely family

[ReesieKitty]

I love the way Obama's daughters behave- they are spunky. but very polite and totally remind me of my 9 year old son. It's so obvious that they are not only well-loved, but well-parented.

I understand that Obama has had those shoes re-soled since this interview ;) A good, high quality pair of leather shoes are comfortable when broken in and will last for years with re-soling and regular polish. Way to be practical!

And Michelle- I think it's great that a splurge dress for her ( she must have been a LITTLE nervous going on the View and wanting to look her best) cost $145. I think that is a 'special occasion' situation normal people can relate to. And she's right - they make attractive clothes for women and kids now in a lot of price ranges from all sorts of stores. But it looks like Target, the Gap, Filene's Basement, Loehmanns, Old Navy, etc. were not good enough for the Palins when they wanted to make an impression. Give me the REAL down to earth American Obamas any day!

[radnip]

The story about the caviar was a fake. So why not a big retraction the same size and location as the original lie?

[sjohnnie5]

You can't tell me she's wearing a $35 dress when she makes $300K a year, but she eats caviar on the campaign trail (the backup story of which mysteriously disappeared from the internet). Also, I don't see anyone trumpeting about the $25,000 tuition per year per daughter B.O. pays for PRIVATE school for his kids because Chicago Public Schools aren't good enough, yet he votes AGAINST school vouchers for the rest of us peons. Hmmph.

[Wuud52]

Uhh, sorry, but she is wearing a $35 dress.

Vouchers would only work for some people, leaving a lot of people in the cold. An uneducated America is not good for anyone. Obama is for a system that would improve education for all so people would not have to choose a private school in order to improve education and prevent the violence, bullying and terrible education that goes on at many schools now.

[Bertha40869]

That was a rumor, stupid. Michelle Obama NEVER stayed at the Waldorf Astoria.

[KayeS]

That ridiculous caviar story "disappeared" because it wasn't true and was retracted by the news organization. It turned out Michelle Obama was not even staying at the hotel where she was falsely claimed to have ordered room serivce caviar.

[diezmann]

The reason the backup story disappeared is that it was bogus to begin with. It has been debunked by numerous sources - you might want to check Snopes before repeating lies.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/roomservice.asp
As far as the tuition is concerned - EVERY parent I know wants to obtain the best education for their children that they can afford. I am a working stiff who is going into hock to have my son go to a college that charges 50K a year because after checking out the options we decided it was the BEST site for him to thrive. (Not that it matters to the issue - but the Obama kids are NOT paying 25K/year - suubstantially less since that is the HIGHEST amount for higher grades.

[khaleef49]

I agree. My granddaughter just turned 3 and my daughter and I are splitting the cost to send her to private school. I don't make 100,000 a year nor does my daughter who make less than I do but we are willing to sacrifice to ensure that she gets the basics for a good education.

[shellyamber]

The story about the lobster and caviar at the Ritz was pulled down because it was a lie. She never stayed at the Ritz so they retracted it.....

Maybe because they want their children to have a great education? Maybe that is why they pay 25g a year...which is pretty conservative when it comes to private school tuition. Maybe her dad is very high profile and they want a little extra protection that the public school system can't provide. Maybe, just maybe, they are sick of the unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind......

I make about 125k a year and I would look for that 35 dollar dress on sale......

Maybe she is just a real person like the rest of us and doesn't need the 150k shopping spree that the Palins got.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...

[diezmann]

Shellyamber - when we point out the flaws in these things we need to get out own facts right - it was the Waldorf - :-)
I make almost 200K - and bought my last pair of shoes two years ago - and my last suit 5 years ago. And EVERYTHING I buy I get on sale - and I check the supermarket flyers for specials.

[Teeninchee]

CLASS ACT Obama family. Way to show us how to live within your personal means.

[Nia1999]

Wow, $150,000 for clothes. Let's see, I spent $175.00 (winter clothes) and $200.00 (spring/summer). That's $375.00 (including shoes) from TJ Max, Marshall's, and Ashley Stewarts. If I must say so myself, I looked rather cute. Now it's just so many pants, jackets, skirts, and dresses one can buy in order to spend $150,000. To be fair, the campaign did say that they would donate the clothes to charity. But, here's the kicker, Sarah Palin wears about a size 4 or 5. I lose again.

[DaBluAce]

Those clothes will be going to high end resale shops and the some of the money may be donated but you will not be seeing any back to work program moms sporting those clothes or shoes!! They think folks just fell off the turnip truck yesterday! It will be a non-issue after they(McSame and Phalin) loose the election!

[Noggy]

Maybe Palin can put the clothes on Ebay?

I must admit the issue over the clothes is petty given that it was probably a decision campaign handlers/advisors came to after seeing Sarah's wardrobe. Remember a large majority of Republicans are upper middle class whites who shop in these stores and the campaign probably came to the conclusion that if Palin was going to pass muster with the Washington insiders she would have to dress the part. Think about how people went on and on about Laura Bush when she first arrived on the national scene.

However, I'm really glad it has given people an opportunity to recognize that Obama and his family are just like the majority of Americans. So much for the spin that tried to say he was an elitist and not one of us. Anyone who shops at the Gap is about as American as you can get. And a guy who gives his wife a high five because she bought herself a $30 dress is my kind of guy. The more I see of this family the more I like them. And a guy who puts the needs of working class families before getting his shoes resoled is my kind of President.

I just pray that his grandmother lives to see the boy she raised become President. There is no doubt that the two women in his life did a great job. They are an inspiration for single moms and grandmothers everywhere.

[Teeninchee]

When I saw those shoes with holes in the bottom, this mother's heart broke. I actually started to cry. The man has given up a lot to work for people from the time he decided to move to Chicago and become a community organizer. His shoes were worn out and he still didn't toss them out. .it is incredible that they have people who want to make comparison's about who is more like US. THEY are like MY family.

[The Lorax]

Aw, Teeninchee, do you need a hug? Your comment made my eyes tear up. I just found it so sweet and sincere. I'd had pretty much the same reaction as you when I saw it too. :)

Obama/Biden!!!

[GoNitro]

Reminds me of a picture of Adlai Stephenson, lo these many years ago: he was sitting cross-legged, and the camera caught the underside of his shoe. The hole in his shoe became a kind of joke, but his campaign turned it into a slogan: "I'd rather have a man with a hole in his shoe, than a hole in his ideas." That resonates now.

Vote, everybody, VOTE, so Obama's run will have a different result than Adlai's

[hortonhearsawho]

Cindy says, we don't need no stinking budget....

[GoNitro]

You hit the nail on the head. ONE of Cindy McCain's convention outfits cost $300k -- $175k would leave her in her undies.

[odoreida]

Do you think that if you keep repeating that same lie about the $300 K outfit that it will turn into the truth?

The $300 k figure was some cow flop's estimate of the value of Cindy's JEWELRY, which said cow flop admitted he couldn't even be sure wasn't inexpensive costume jewelry.

Now go read something and improve your so-called mind.

[Noggy]

Cindy...is a poor little rich girl who inherited 100 million. Is she like us...I don't know. I don't want to judge. I do know this...I would not want to be married to someone like John McCain. I can bearly stand watching and listening to him during the debates or his appearances on the campaign trail. The piece done about Cindy McCain recently did arouse a lot of emotions in me when I realized that she married a man whose ambition has kept her at a distance for their entire marriage. She reminds me of a Stepford wife...its very sad. Too have so much and yet so little.

[TheAntiSheep]

The Obama family gets the "one of us" vote here, for sure. No amount of winkin', g-droppin', you-betcha-in' down-hominess can hide the fact that Palin is a PHONY.

[Noggy]

I don't think that its so much that Palin is a phony as much as her ambition is just like John McCain's. I think she is one of those people who want to be in a position of power ie. mayor, governor or president. I don't think we've seen the last of this beauty queen because the GOP has bought into her hook, line and sinker. She'll be back and next time she will have done her homework.

[honestpolitician]

Ya man, Obama needs to change those shoes....I mean, I can understand when you have a favorite pair of shoes and it's hard to part...but dude - it's got holes in it! Anyhow, it's quite clear of who is more int touch with the American people and - better yet the middle class....No-one from the middle class goes on a 150,000 shopping spree...and btw McCain is complaining about Obama's earmarks? Hmmm smells like a hypocrite to me..

POLITICAL AD ATTACKS!! http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[sjohnnie5]

doncha think he wears those shoes for the publicity????? comeon. Poor me, look I have to wear these shoes with holes in them because I'm soooo poor. My books only made me a millionaire. boohoo

[SouthernBlueBelle]

You are such a sore loser. You know your candidate is not going to be elected, so yu just are angry and snarky. Hmm, just like your candidate.

[zenlikejen]

Geez, why so bitter?

[isis]

He doesn't like to be wasteful and he is not vain. He still has his old belt. My husband and son-in-law are very much like that.

[BethStuart]

It is reassuring to see Michelle Obama demonstrate you can look very well on a budget.

Palin on the other hand seems to demostrate the Imelda Marcos syndrome.

[Amerkin]

I don't want to believe. I can't let myself hope for even one second. I fear that on Nov 5 the country will tear itself apart as another election is stolen.
Dont want it to happen, but I must prepare...

[Teeninchee]

Focus on getting the vote out in your area.

[Tracy Lea Carnes - Huffpost Blogger]

Michelle Obamas has done very well by showing us that stylish & profressional can be affordable in a $40 or even a more expensive $140 dress. But using donor money from Americans who can't even afford $2,500 for their entire wardrobe for the year, let alone for just one jacket, worn only once by Palin, is a slap in the face of these smaller donors who are looking for McCain & Palin to rescue the ecomony for them. You can't say you're "one of us" if you're wearing $150,000 worth of luxury label clothes in just one month when we all know you don't make $150,000 in salary in a year! How many hockey & soccer moms do you know who wear Christian Louboutin pumps and a Valentino jacket to the office in middle America? Ok, I actually own a pair of rockin' Christian Louboutin sling backs and that three months of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was so worth it!

[Teeninchee]

She dressed her whole family! They could have given her $5000 for 5 skirts/jackets, shoes and accessories. OK splurge give her 10000. Leave the kids with Todd. Let them wear the same stuff from one state to the next. Go to Target. Gap. Whatever. This is totally insane. She was trying to keep up with Cindy. Well, Cindy should have offered to dress their ------- and then to say they're giving it all to charity? Who is going to be the charity case. Palins? The woman was the GOVERNOR. She had clothes in her closet. This was just a waste.

[khaleef49]

They were trying to recreate her for the American public. What you see is not what you get.

[sjohnnie5]

and B.O. spending millions!! on a losing campaign instead of buying a home for his Kenyan brother, or even helping some charities at home is what? and don't tell me how much he contributed to charity last year, because his returns prior to that showed nothing. He only started charitable contributions when someone noted that he is a cheapskate. Puhlease.

[Bertha40869]

Do you know how expensive it is to live in Chicago? My brother makes $300,000 a year and he has a modest home and has to budget. I think you are a paid plant.

[petalpusher]

I actually laugh when comments are posted like this.

Amazing how far people reach to attack and defend the indefensible when it's not their guy winning.

Better go back to the Fox News blog before your head explodes.

[Marie9]

His brother is his own man. Barack does not owe him anything. He gave through his church who inturn helped many.

[Chapmanp2]

If Barack Obama runs his administration ANYTHING like how he runs his campaign & his life we will be saving BILLIONS & BILLIONS of dollars...

[Noggy]

I don't know that we will save Billions but I do know that the poor and the middle class in this country will be better off. The rich will still be rich. Corporate CEOs will have to get use to not having golden parachutes. Investors who got richer on the Bush tax cuts will have to work a little harder than they have the past 8 years...but it won't kill them. It hasn't killed us and we have been doing it a lot longer.

[BrianMac]

What's the point in wasting money on clothes you don't really need? Invest that money or use it for a vacation for the family. That's what my white, working class, conservative, (Deep) Southern family did and that's one thing that they like about Obama and why they're voting for him (even though it'll be lost in a sea of red).

Volunteer a little time tonight to make some calls to Virginia! O needs your help smother the McCain/Palin fires cropping up in the state right now:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php.

[petalpusher]

I live in NY and on my commute this morning, I passed a driver from Virginia. We both exchanged thumbs ups over our matching Obama / Biden bumper stickers. It was a good morning :-)

[xmcknight]

Funny! I live in Georgia and I was on my way home from the gym, when I stopped at a light... This couple in the car next to me, who happened to be white (I'm black), waved until they got my attention and rolled down the window. The woman in the passenger side shouted, "OMG, we LOVE your bumper sticker!!! Where did you get it?!?!?" They were referring to my bumper sticker that read: THAT ONE '08.

At least, I'm sure it was either that sticker, or the one that had a picture of Obama dunking on McCain... LOL!

[sunny555]

This family was so beautiful on that particular show.....absolutely loved their clothing. The girls are absolutely precious.