Not to pick on Obama in his first month as president during a very difficult time, but...
I've seen he's travelled a bit around the country to try to pitch his stimulus plan to the American people. On Monday he went to Elkhart, IN and on Tuesday to Fort Myers, FL to give Town Hall talks. On Monday night he gave his first press conference from the White House.
So there were two round trips via Air Force One in two days. To give a speech. Does anyone find this at all wasteful? I think his press conference was one of the best I've ever heard and I watched it live. Unlike many of the later Bush press conferences it seemed all the networks covered this in prime time from his home office. Seriously, he had to fly to IN and FL? To give speeches?
Remember a few weeks ago when Congressmen were yelling at Auto CEOs and Bank CEOs about taking private jets to Congressional hearings? These were leaders of companies that were losing tens of billions of dollars. They were being yelled at because they were seen as wasteful in even their travel plans, let alone their fiscal policies. Not to be obnoxious about it but the federal government has a trillion dollar deficit. I'm not saying he should sell Air Force One but were these trips really necessary?
Isn't it time to cut some corners? Isn't it time to lead by example? Isn't it time to realize the impact on the environment of travel?
5 comments:
(1) I do think it important that the President routinely get out of Washington DC, and visit not just his home in Hawaii or Crawford Texas.
(2) And c'mon, he is the *President of the United States of America* and if he thinks it is good idea to fly someplace I do think you should cut him some slack.
(1) I agree but he's only been in DC for about 4 weeks, after having extensively travelled the country for a year. I also did not mention and had no problems with his trips to Chicago and Camp David.
(2) I did begin the post "not to pick on" [him] but I refuse to agree with him merely because of his position. Look where that got us.
I think the economic situation is so dire that he wanted to give a speech in front of the disaster zone (sort of like Bush on the world center rubble) to push for the stimulus.
But, otherwise, yes, I agree that it was not necessary at all and he could have made his point without getting out.
My understanding is that he's going to sign the bill in Denver. That's nothing more than a photo op.
Well, in reality, Obama is guy who has mostly done the good talking up to now (a necessary thing that Bush or McCain could not even pass). Now, he needs to do the walk, so to speak... I hope he does well but he is politician, after all.
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