I’m not a critic of presidential vacations. Modern Presidents are always on duty, and when Congress is not in Washington DC, there isn’t any reason for a President not to get away and spend a little quality time with family. Of course, one expects a President to be a good steward of taxpayer money and public assets and — especially at a time when Americans are struggling through an economic crisis — keep from wasting any more of either.
In other words, maybe the First Family should make an attempt to fly to their destination together:
Before it had even started in earnest, the much-maligned vacation became a PR nightmare, after it emerged this morning that he and his wife took separate government jets to Martha’s Vineyard just hours apart.
Michelle Obama was revealed to have arrived at the Massachusetts retreat, only 500 miles from Washington, four hours before her husband yesterday.
She was accompanied by their daughters and landed at around 2pm – four hours earlier than the President.
The extra transport to get the the First Lady to the island for only a few more hours of vacation time will have cost taxpayers thousands in additional expenses.
The costs related to Mrs Obama’s solo trip mainly include the flight on the specially designed military aircraft she took instead of Air Force One, as well as any extra staff and Secret Service that had to be enlisted to go with her.
She would also have had her own motorcade from the airport to her vacation residence.
The President had already drawn scorn for using two helicopters and Air Force One to get to Martha’s Vineyard.
He yesterday left the White House aboard Marine One on his way to Andrews Air Force base to hitch a lift aboard Air Force One – along with First Dog Bo.
After landing at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station, he then took a final helicopter to his holiday destination to complete the remarkable 500-mile journey.
As Glenn Reynolds often says … I don’t want to hear a damned thing about my carbon footprint from this administration. (via Power Line’s Scott Johnson)
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