Michelle Obama just had an extended vacation in Hawaii to celebrate her 50^th birthday at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. Now, the White House has announced Mrs. Obama, along with her daughters and mother, will travel to China at the end of March.

A trip to China—for what? She’s not an elected official and she has no official role in our government. Neither does Malia, Sasha or her live-in babysitter, Marian Robinson.  How do they rate another taxpayer-funded jaunt overseas two months after her lavish Hawaiian vacation? How about putting that money to restoring veterans’ benefits and shoring up our military? Last week, when Bill O’Reilly asked Mrs. Obama’s Chicago crony, Valerie Jarrett,  about the cutbacks, President Obama’s senior adviser told him, “we needed to get our fiscal house in order and tighten our belts and that requires a lot of sacrifices.”

So Michelle gets to trot her family halfway across the globe while we sacrifice? What thinly veiled rationale for another multi-million dollar, sightseeing trip has FLOTUS come up with this time?

From Yahoo News:

…In China, Mrs. Obama will focus on the power and importance of education, including in her own life, during visits to a high school and a university in Beijing, and a high school in Chengdu

…Mrs. Obama is encouraging American students to follow her trip on social media and the White House website, where she will post a daily travel blog.

… "I'll be focusing on the power and importance of education, both in my own life and in the lives of young people in both of our countries."

…Mrs. Obama is encouraging American students to follow her trip on social media and the White House website, where she will post a daily travel blog.

Before Michelle takes off to China, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the First Lady will visit Yu Ying Public Charter School—a Chinese immersion, International Baccalaureate elementary school in Washington, D.C.

Who knew DC had a charter school immersing students in Chinese? I have nothing against introducing little ones to foreign language lessons but after checking on Yu Ying I discovered teaching Chinese to school children is not the whole story.

From the school’s mission statement:

...Washington’s Yu Ying Public Charter School aims to foster the development of a strong social conscience among tomorrow’s global leaders by nurturing excellence in our students’ intellectual, moral, social, emotional and physical development in an engaging, inquiry-driven Chinese-English language immersion environment.

How neat. Weeks ahead of her trip, Michelle is celebrating a school that deals with the “global reality” of China as “a growing world power.” The Mao ornament on the Obamas’ Christmas tree a few years back is beginning to make sense.

And in case anyone is wondering why Mrs. Obama has to haul Mother Robinson and the girls with her, Jonathan Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, thinks it’s a good way to keep things light and breezy when meeting with China’s First Lady.

…  but the fact that she's taking the rest of her family suggests "she's not going in search of a crusade of one sort or another…The clear intent here is not to touch any particular hot buttons."

In other words, there is nothing of particular benefit or importance in Malia, Sasha and Marian tagging along other than allowing Michelle to enjoy herself while one of her staff tweets and blogs  to children in America.  Yes, the same children whose parents are now part of the lowest workforce in over thirty years with 6.7 million from the middle class added to the poverty rolls. Not to worry though, via social media,  FLOTUS promises the kids they will learn lots of “interesting facts about China’s history and culture.”