NYC Letter: Prescript For Thee, Not Me -- The Corporate Jet Redux

Day 1,141 of CHOPE

(A) Well, Jeff, as you know there is a reelection campaign located in Chicago. And this President is doing the things that he needs to do to prepare for his campaign, but his --the level of his engagement is relatively low now because he has work to do as President.

(B) Well, you're right that this trip involves a number of political events. ... But it sort of ebbs and flows.

Jay Carney,
(A) shrugging off Mr. Obama's campaigning
in advance of 5 fundraisers in two days
PRESS BRIEFING
WASHINGTON January 9, 2012 (White House)
(B) flowing with the president for
eight fundraisers in three days
PRESS GAGGLE ON AIR FORCE ONE
SAN FRANCISCO (en route)
February 16, 2012 (White House)

Well, Jeff, things have picked up.

OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN GETS MORE USAF AIRCRAFT

March 9, 2012 (TDC) - The U.S. Air Force is pulling nine cargo aircraft from military operations to support President Barrack Obama’s stepped-up visits to campaign events.

The five medium-capacity C-130s and four heavyweight C-17s will be used to ferry security vehicles, armored limousines and communications gear into cities ahead of Obama’s campaign appearances.

That's quite a fleet at $182K/hour per flight per craft to the taxpayer. The C-17 is huge. It is designed to transport:

• 134 troops with palletized seats; or

• 102 troops with standard centerline seats; or

• 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients; or

• Cargo, such as an M1 Abrams tank, three Strykers, or 6 M1117 Armored Security Vehicles

Campaign Barry has four of these at its beck even as Team Barry sheds military transports to prop up its phony talk of deficit reduction.

In the months before November, the president is expected to fly into multiple cities per week, and speak at multiple sites per day. On Mar. 8, for example, the president will fly to Richmond, and then drive over to a Rolls-Royce aircraft-parts factory. That evening, he’ll fly down to Houston, Texas.

His wife, the Vice President and many of his cabinet secretaries are using the Air Force’s fleet of VIP aircraft to visit more states as the election season speeds up.

... Currently, the aircraft “already belong to other [Air Force] units,” said [Maj. Michelle Lai, communications officer for the Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing]. "They’re continuing to fly troops or supplies into the [Middle East] theater or across the country."

It's not as if the military need is greater than Mr. Obama's re-election need. Mr. Obama needs money so he needs to go where the money is, whereas the military need not fly off to fight America's enemies when they have shown a willingness to come to us.

FUNDRAISER-IN-CHIEF:
OBAMA'S 100 VS. BUSH'S 56 DONOR EVENTS

February 22, 2012 (WaEx) - According to several counts, the Big 100 will come Thursday when he does four fundraisers enroute to collecting and spending $750 million to $1 billion for his reelection. So far since April 2011, he has raised an estimated $82 million to $100 million at those events.

Former President George W. Bush, who in May 2003 announced his reelection campaign a month later than Obama at this stage of his presidency, had attended 56 fundraisers at this time, according to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, the unofficial keeper of White House statistics.

... An analysis of the fundraisers shows that Washington, San Francisco and New York have been the site of most of Obama's events.

Three guesses where an Obama second term will pander.

Washington commuters had an up close meeting with the president’s efforts Monday when downtown traffic was stopped at 6 p.m. after he left the exclusive Jefferson Hotel after meeting with 25 supports who paid $35,800 each at the joint Obama for American-Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

Always on about the little people. Doesn't the reporter understand Mr. Obama needs MONEY.

Obama may be working fundraisers as hard as former President Bill Clinton, but the numbers aren’t fantastic. In January, he didn’t raise as much as he did in 2008, with contributions to Obama and the Democratic National Committee down 30 percent, according to a Boston Globe analysis. After those numbers came out, Obama flip-flopped and pushed donors to give to his "super PAC."

Not to worry, destitute tax-honeypot. Mr. Obama is keeping a close eye on your every dime as he spends millions to fly around with his begging bowl.

(A) From the moment I take office, my top priority will be to do everything I can to make sure your tax dollars are protected.

(B) You can't get corporate jets...on the taxpayers' dime. (Applause.) There's got to be some accountability and some responsibility, and that's something that I intend to impose as President of the United States. (Applause.)

Mr. Obama,
establishing his administration's principles
of oversight for the taxpayers' dime
(A) LA CROSSE, Wisconsin October 1, 2008 (CNN)
(B) ELKHART, Indiana February 9, 2009 (White House)

CHOPE.

Because we all want a fly-in moment from the president.

Posted by Damian at March 9, 2012 02:00 PM