Michelle Obama compared to Marie Antoinette

United States First Lady Michelle Obama has been compared to a 'modern-day Marie Antoinette' in an editorial that criticised her vacation in Spain with her daughter.

Andrea Tantaros has penned a scorching editorial for the New York Daily News pointing a finger at the First Lady's luxurious vacation with daughter and friends.

"The First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends', CBS News quoted Tantaros as writing.

Referring to a CNN report that Michelle Obama and her group are expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, Tantaros said, "Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times."

She further criticised the first lady for travelling abroad instead of within the United States, something that would help the US economy.

"Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette -- the French queen who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects' plight -- than an average mother of two," she wrote.

"I don't begrudge anyone rest and relaxation when they work hard. We all need downtime -- the First Family included. It's the extravagance of Michelle Obama's trip and glitzy destination contrasted with President Obama's demonisation of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy and perpetuates a disconnect between the country and its leaders," she added.

According to the White House, Obama is traveling with minimal staff and a small group of family friends for a mother daughter trip long in the works.

The First Lady's press office referred to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' statement at the White House briefing on Thursday that "the First Lady is on a private trip".

"She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I'd leave it at that," he said.

Image: US First Lady Michelle Obama walks through the streets during her vacation with her daughter Sasha to the southern Spanish town of Marbella | Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters