I guess I'd be more concerned about President Obama supposedly (according to Fox News) earning a $400,000 speaking fee if I weren't keenly aware that he—like Hillary Clinton, also criticized for drawing big speaking fees—uses his personal wealth to help people.
It seems to me that earning lots of money in and of itself isn't the problem, but earning lots of money at the expense of other people's basic needs being met (which he isn't here), and/or using that money to harm people (which he won't).
That isn't a defense of capitalism (which sucks) (especially when it's unregulated), but an acknowledgement of the fact that we do currently operate within a capitalist system, and the fees themselves may be "unsavory," but I can't (or won't) just ignore that the person getting them will use them well (by my estimation).
(So many parentheticals!)
I've also noticed that most of the commentators who are taking issue with these speaking fees never seemed to have a problem with them until it was a woman and a Black man collecting them.
Huh.
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