This is just silly. If you are the President of the United States, and you want to impress your childhood friends, why go through the trouble of flying down to meet them? Especially since the country is having a rough time lately, that's a lot of money!
Here's how I would had done it:
Find the next "VIP" government flight between Hawaii and DC that still had two seats left. Put the two guys on that flight, if anyone asks about them they are "under Presidential Orders." When they get to DC, pick them up in a Secret Service Yukon and drive them to either Blair House or the White House, where they'll stay as guests for a weekend or whatever. Plus they get to hang out with their buddy who happens to be the President of the United States. And all of this at very little cost to the taxpayer, since the VIP flights would had happened regardless, the friends are basically flying space available.
Much simpler and easier to fly a couple guys to DC, house, feed and keep them entertained than to run a 20-car motorcade, which inconvenienced everyone around it, cost money and was simply wasteful.
Where was your outrage at the money spent for bush to go to crawford to clear brush? I do find it interesting that the right wing british rags feel it necessary to get into the mudslinging.
ReplyDeleteYes, but Bush has a huge ranch, him landing on Crawford isn't as disruptive as Obama hauling so many people to Hawaii. The only part I found weird was the part with his friends, going on vacation to his home state is an official function, had he stayed in DC people would be moaning and whining about how screwed the country is that the President can't take a Christmas vacation.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you are saying, but I have read that W took 70-80 trips to Crawford. Maybe there were less people bothered per instance but cumulatively it must have been more expensive and overall much more of a bother to daily life for those people. I've read figures that it cost about $20m round-trip just for the jet for the Crawford trips. I think Obama has been to Hawaii twice since becoming president, but I'm not really keeping count. Anyway with all that being said, if it was up to me, they would all have to sit their asses in office and do work through all holidays, no vacations as long as there are problems that need work. They get paid too well and treated too nicely to be concerned about them getting time off, in my opinion. Same thing goes for congress too.
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