The height of arrogance and economic and diplomatic idiocy is for this President to be flying around the country and the world, used primarily for his own motivations, that enormous jumbo jet named “Air Force One”. This monster absolutely sends the wrong message and should be immediately replaced by a jet more specific to an executive. The President is not some emir potentate yet the presidential jet plane has literally become a flying, in the air, grand hotel with or without swimming pool and hot tub spa. Such a tour de force makes for envy which is the antithesis of good diplomacy and foreign relations Never make your friends think more of you and your enemies think less of you which producing such a gross image is just what that plane actually does.
Markets are squeamish so Obama needs to build economic confidence yet he continues to cling to his trappings of presidential power. This is a case of cutting back on the nonsense and showing management by getting clear about priorities. There exists no argument that the president needs quick, fast, and comfortable transportation but a jumbo jet fit for deployment of over a thousand military troops just stinks of useless waste. For the record there is available the B-757 from Boeing which, at a fraction of the costs, has all the amenities needed by a sitting president including privacy suite and long conference table with extensive multi-media. Obama may dislike the fact that “The Beast” (armor plated ten ton limousine) could not fit in the cargo belly and be transported in the hole of this model jet plane but diplomatically that would be a worthwhile image benefit as seen by our international colleagues.
Pack rats make terrible managers and this President needs to prune the bush so that the roses can bloom. Grown-ups discard their toys which it seems to be a persistent problem being Obama. There is only so much fresh water in the lifeboat so the weak, irrelevant and cumbersome must go over the side. This is not a case of blindfold drawing lots; because, instead, this is a matter of executive will. In the face of all this, perfidy and pomposity reigns within the presidential ranks and managerial histories prove that those most pompous are those least loyal and willful to their executives’ means. So, then, the decision between canaries and peacocks now is the moment to eliminate those peacocks because there are several in his cabinet and staff of tsars that strut around in front of the cameras touting their high office and extensive executive powers bestowed upon them by Obama. These are those among them that think their importance outweighs that of their president and it is those that that will create their own endurable fiefdoms within the bureaucracy and the secrets they hold, about this president, they will use as weapons to retain power.
Who says our emir Potentate doesn’t see himself that way?
The 747s were commissioned by Reagan. How much would it cost to scrap the perfectly good ones they have and replace with 757s, built from scratch to specifications?
Obama may be criticized for a lot of things, but this is — dare I say, a bit of an overreach?
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
I disagree as much as anyone with Obama’s political positions but you need to calm down a bit about Air Force One. Every President both needs and should use it. It is not just a flying executive jet but a national security tool as well, regardless of who the current President is.
I’m not sure how we could prove it but I’m sure the costs for a new fleet would far outweigh the maintenance for the current 747’s. -adding that even if any President took another jet to a location the Secret Service isn’t going to leave behind the limo or other security items…
Well, now that we have the TSA feeling up the crotches and armpits of everyone who wants to board an airplane in a US airport, and, since US airline travel has been made so safe through those efforts, Obie should fly commercial like the rest of us.
If the airlines are safe enough for the general public as a result of TSA efforts then surely they’re safe enough for the unPrecedented and MeChelle, eh?
Leave the big presidential jet in the hangar and save us all a great deal of dough.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
I toured the Air Force One at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library recently.
It is a Boeing 707.
It is VERY cramped inside.
It reminds me of a very efficiently designed trailer or dorm room.
Maybe the newer Boeing 747 is too big?
But there are other ”Air Force Ones.”
In May 2009, Obama took the first lady on a date to New York City in a Gulfstream 500.
On 16 July 2010, the Obamas flew to Maine for vacation in a Gulfstream III painted in presidential colors.
So, maybe he could go smaller all of the time?
@Nan: I’ve been to the Reagan Library also. The Reagan administration ordered the 747 replacement for the old 707. The government RFA went out in 1985. The planes weren’t delivered until after Reagan left office.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@ Nan G
Larry is sort of right, Reagan was in office when the 747’s were awarded as Air Force One. The Air Force requested new aircraft and the choice was between the 747 and the DC10. (As a side note, I flew in the refueling version of the DC10, known as the KC10 for 4 years, love that plane). Air Force One is designated as such when the President is in it. There is another 747 that always flies somewhere close to where the President is flying called NEACP or Looking Glass. I’m perfectly fine with the POTUS having Air Force One. I’m not always comfortable with the way they use it, but the President’s travel arrangements are dictated by the Secret Service.
Apparently Michelle Obama used a slightly smaller “United States of America” blue & white plane to take her current ”secret” vacation to Corvalis, Oregon.
The 1:00 mark of this video shows her plane.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/08/michelle_obama_vacationing_in_.html
Is it an old Boeing 707?
Cute thing.
But count all the windows……plenty of space for a President and his entourage.
Actually I knew that it was Reagan who ordered the newer, bigger AF1 planes.
There were sketches of Nancy Reagan’s plans for the interior at the Library on one of my visits there.
Technically, any Air Force aircraft becomes designated with the call sign “Air Force One” the instant the President of the United States enters it, regardless of what type of aircraft it is. When the President steps off the aircraft, it reverts to it’s assigned “tail” serial number. If the President was to sit in the pilot or RIO seat of an F-14 Tomcat, the aircraft’s designation immediately becomes “Air Force One.” In the case of any other of the other service’s aircraft, it’s call sign would be the (Military branch; Marine, Navy, Army, etc.) followed by “one”.
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html
Those aircraft specially built for the Office of the President, may be (incorrectly) called “Air Force One” by those outside of the military, but on all paperwork each aircraft is only identified by it’s own serial number. The increased need for advanced technical communications and special defensive equipment is what made it necessary and sensible to custom build those aircraft that are normally reserved for the President (or at times Vice President) of the United States. “Air Force Two” only means the Vice president is on board an aircraft using that call-sign.
While I too frown on frivolous, wasteful “joyriding” use of the aircraft on the public’s dime, I’ll not begrudge the necessity of using the particular aircraft normally set aside for the purpose. Note: When a president uses Air Force One to travel to a campaign event, his campaign must reimburse the government for the approximate cost of a first-class ticket for the president and all the political aides traveling with him.
Just stumbled across this one: http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/08/29/michelle-obama-bumps-head-on-air-force-one/
Incidentally, the video linked to above is titled incorrectly. Since the “First Lady” is not recognized as an elective office, the aircraft she is in gets no special call-sign designation. Additionally, Michelle Obama is not supposed to be using those aircraft without the President being present. The Obama’s are required to reimburse the taxpayers for the full cost of her using those aircraft for her own personal business.
I don’t have a problem with any president using the 747 designated as Air Force One. It projects a good image around the world.
The Toms were Navy aircraft, so the proper designation, as it was for the S-3 Viking that W flew out to Lincoln on, would be “Navy One.”
@pko Strany:
Nice article about that landing from CNN is here.
@Pko Strany
You are correct. While I was writing that line I originally had it as an F-15 Eagle, but decided to change the aircraft to the comparable two-seat Navy fighter and I overlooked switching “Air Force One” to “Navy One.” (No slight to the Navy intended.) I was also at the time thinking of the film “Independence Day” and their mistakenly calling the fighter the film’s ‘President’ was flying “Eagle One.” Of course with the script’s ‘liberal’ slant, I am not surprised they got that wrong. As if an alien race would understand military call-sign designations and thus discern that the POTUS was on board that plane.
@NanG
This part of Pko’s linked page caught my eye:
I think that Bush flying out to welcome the returning ship’s Navy crew, (hence the banner: “Mission Accomplished” which referred to their naval mission, and not the President’s visit,) get’s much higher marks than President Obama’s fundraising dinners, golf outings and parties after frightening seniors by telling them they might not get their social security checks.
History repeating itself again. One of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was the arrogance and elaborate display of opulence by the ruling class, even as the people suffered towards the end (give them bread and circuses). This flagrant “in your face “attitude was not lost on the Barbarians and Vandals who eventually overran the Empire. Sound familiar?