Comments on: Obama’s Odd Travel

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:58:33 +0000

“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.

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:57:15 +0000

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.

By: AustinRoth

AustinRoth — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:03:07 +0000

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.

By: CStanley

CStanley — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:50 +0000

(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.

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:54:42 +0000

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.

By: SteveK

SteveK — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:47:07 +0000

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.

By: Gherald L.

Gherald L. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:20:10 +0000

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.

By: AustinRoth

AustinRoth — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:15:40 +0000

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

By: shannonlee

shannonlee — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:11:23 +0000

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?

By: imavettoo

imavettoo — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:05:24 +0000

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

By: Patrick E

Patrick E — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:46:44 +0000

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.

By: T-Steel

T-Steel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:32:03 +0000

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