At $180,000 per flight hour to operate the presidential aircraft, the trip cost taxpayers more than $1.8 million just for the flying time to California and back. That doesn’t include two 50-minute flights in California on Marine One, the presidential helicopter; or the cost of lodging dozens of White House staffers and Secret Service agents overnight, or the cost of 20-vehicle motorcades at the various stops.

As usual, the White House mixed business with talk show pleasure during the two-day presidential trip. On his way to Los Angeles, Mr. Obama stopped in Phoenix to deliver a speech about the housing industry. He also spoke to Marines at Camp Pendleton in California before flying back to Washington.

The president also made time in Los Angeles for a private dinner Tuesday night with mega-fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of the DreamWorks Animation film studio, who raised and donated nearly $10 million for Mr. Obama’s re-election effort last year.