So embarrassing! Barack Obama got his credit card declined while on a date — possibly at Estela — with Michelle.
“I went to a restaurant up in New York when I was, during the U.N. General Assembly, and my credit card was rejected,” Obama said on Friday, signing an executive order to help protect consumers from identity theft, as per the Washington Post. “It turned out I guess I don’t use it enough. They were, they thought there was some fraud going on. Fortunately, Michelle had hers.”
He went on: “I was trying to explain to the waitress, you know, I really think that I’ve been paying my bills,” Obama said, likely after ordering fluke carpaccio, endive and walnut salad, cod croquettes, and burrata. “Even I’m affected by this.”
But to be fair, Obama seems like a bit of a credit risk. Highly variable income. Big expenses, when he charges them. Bills in wildly different locations. Who can blame the credit-card companies for saying no? For what it is worth, former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke also seems to have fallen victim to the same scourge of automated filters.
Obama mentioned the story while announcing new beefed-up consumer protections at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
