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Obama’s Odd Travel

Posted by PATRICK EDABURN in At TMV.
Oct 21st, 2009 | Comments

During the whole dustup over the Olympics the only thing that really caused me to scratch my head was wondering why Obama would spend 9 hours out and 9 hours back flying time to get 2 hours on the ground at the Olympic committee.

Today I heard another story that made me wonder.

Last night the President was in New York City for a Democratic fundraiser.

(Let me make it clear here I’m not debating the whole ‘how much time should a politician spend at fundraisers versus doing the job issue).

He flew back to DC and according to the official record arrived at the White House at around 11:30pm.

Today he was in New Jersey campaigning and fundraising for Governor Corzine, arriving around 5pm.

The question for me is, if he got home at midnight and was back in New Jersey the next afternoon, why didn’t he simply stay in New York the night before ?

I’m sure he could work from there without much trouble, or that they could have scheduled the two events as lunch and dinners. To be fair perhaps there was something he had to do at the White House today. I don’t think it’s worthy of any major scandal or anything.

Just seems odd to fly in to New York, back to DC and then in to New Jersey.

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T-Steel

Well in today's super duper ultra micro-parsing environment, this proves that <SARCASM ON>President Obama is conducting Marxist takeover meetings so important that he must fly back.<SARCASM OFF>

Patrick E

LOL on the sarcasm.

Like I said, it's not that big of a deal, just struck me as odd. It would be like me flying to LA for a client meeting, then flying home to spend the night and then flying to San Diego for a meeting.

Note: I've never flown anywhere for a business meeting, just to save on the possible derails.

imavettoo

He could have been hanging out in Crawford the whole time clearing brush & mountain biking, I guess.

shannonlee

Maybe he promised the daughters that he would have breakfast with them? Maybe the wife wanted to see him. Maybe he likes his own bed.

Maybe someone has too much spare time? :)

AustinRoth

I say he was just trying to set a good example of being an Eco-aware World Citizen.

Gherald L.

Let's look at his schedule earlier in the day on Wed, Oct 21:

9:30 AM
Obama receives the daily presidential briefing.

10:00 AM
Obama receives the daily economic briefing.

10:30 AM
Obama meets with senior advisers.

12:40 PM
Obama meets with Sen. John Kerry.

1:50 PM
Obama announces a package of initiatives for small businesses.

3:00 PM
Obama attends a Cabinet-level earthquake tabletop exercise.

3:25 PM
Obama departs W.H. for Andrews Air Force Base [for New Jersey trip]

This is taken from http://www.politico.com/politico44/

I imagine there are more sensitive meetings that don't make it onto the official schedule.

Plus, the president spending the night somewhere is not a trivial matter and requires a lot arrangements and human resources to alter their schedules.

I would be more surprised if he had stayed in New York; it's not far enough from D.C. for a presidential stay to be worth it just to be closer to Jersey at 5pm the next day.

SteveK

My thumbs up was an accident... I wouldn't have to write this if Disqus had a "it was an accident button" so I apologize to you Patrick for having to make this public.

FWIW: I thought you Monty Python post last week was great... Let's put the "You liked this" there and call it square.

superdestroyer

I wonder what the environmental impact is of all of this travel. If the progressive want middle America to live in high rise walk ups, take the bus, and shiver in the cold, then they had better start showing some restraint in their own lifestyles.

they lack of conservation and limits demonstrates that green regulation is more about control of others than it is about helping the environment.

CStanley

(Let me make it clear here I’m not debating the whole ‘how much time should a politician spend at fundraisers versus doing the job issue).

I actually think this is the more salient issue here. It's not that this is new with Obama, but the perpetual campaign has become more and more of a fixture of the presidency and I find it completely inappropriate.

AustinRoth

Actually, my snide eco-comment aside (I just like poking things with a stick), this is one of the significant roles of the President - to represent us as a country in person when needed. Winning the Olympics fro Chicago would have been a good thing. I never posted anything other than support for his attempt.

And in reality, Air Force One is a flying Oval Office. He was not out of touch, was not told to silence his cell phone from take-off to touch-down, etc. AF1 is not a Presidential perk; it is a functional necessity.

DLS

Q: Why would Obama spend 9 hours out and 9 hours back flying time to get 2 hours on the ground at the Olympic committee"

A: The Concorde is not only out of service, but no longer in production. It can't be his new Air Force One. Besides, it's too small and cramped, and doesn't have the range to take him non-stop anywhere.

DLS

"the perpetual campaign has become more and more of a fixture of the presidency and I find it completely inappropriate"

It has been inappropriate since Election Night in Chicago. It degrades the USA as well as his office now.

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