Why are Republicans attacking Obama for using Air Force One?
@thegreatdebater (7316)
United States
April 26, 2012 6:40pm CST
While watching CNBC tonight I heard Eric Cantor attack the President Obama's use of Air Force One to make campaign stops. Of course Mr. Cantor didn't mention that presidents since Ronald Reagan have used Air Force One, and the previous president (oh his name escapes me) used it more than any other president in our nations history. It is also mentioned often how many times the President has gone to Hawaii, but there was an interesting article that noted how many time our previous president (oh what was his name?) made trips to his home in Texas during his reelection year. He made 77 trips to Texas which cost the American tax payers (using 2012 numbers) $55 MILLION just in 2004 alone. Now, presidents can't fly commercial airlines, so when they do take trips for political purposes they can only reimburse the government for the price of a commercial airline ticket. If Republicans are not happy about his use of Air Force One than why didn't they attack the former presidents, and why don't they change the law?
http://www.politicususa.com/obama-air-force-one.html
1 person likes this
8 responses
@Latrivia (2878)
• United States
27 Apr 12
It's probably for the same reason the Democrats attacked the previous president (oh what his name?) for his vacations, yet seem rather quiet on the topic of the current president's outings.
Partisanship, it's a biotch, and everyone is guilty of it.
1 person likes this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
I agree with you Latrivia, and both sides of the story should be presented.
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
27 Apr 12
I think that's a tough standard to abide. How far would one have to go back to equally give all sides of a story? If you went back for Bush, you'd have to go back for Clinton, and then for Bush, and then for Reagan, and then for Carter, and then for Ford, and then for Nixon, and then for Johnson, and then for Kennedy (and then I forget the order of the Presidents 
), all the way back. Crazytown.
), all the way back. Crazytown.@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
28 Apr 12
Mater, I don't know everything on this subject, but according to the article I saw it was first used in campaigning by Reagan, but really was used most by Bush Jr.
@crossbones27 (49703)
• Mojave, California
27 Apr 12
He is just trying to get the Tea Party riled up over nothing. Perhaps he is so good at his job that he has nothing to do, but worry how many frequent flyer miles President Obama is getting.
What does Cantor want President Obama to do? Drive to these campaign events. Hitch hike on the side of the road? Hello, its a election year. He could be upset that politicians spend more time raising money for their elections than actually doing their job. Mr Cantor I am all for you fixing the system. So unless Mr Cantor is trying to put a plan together to fix the system. I suggest he keep his moth shut, because all politicians do the same thing when it comes time for their election. They just do not do it in Air Force One because they are not President.
1 person likes this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
I agree that he did not present a plan to stop this practice, nor did he mention the usage of the postal service by members of congress which allows them to send out as much mail as they want at little to no charge. He also mentioned that most Americans can't afford to go on vacation. He didn't mention that most members of congress don't have to worry about that because corporations pay for their vacations.
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
27 Apr 12
77 trips versus over a 100 trips; 8 years vs 3 years... That's a huge difference.
Anyway, the criticism isn't the fact that he is using it. It is how much he is using and how many of those times are a very thinly disguised campaign trips. You do realize he has basically been campaigning for the last two years ever since the health care bill passed?
It is also a very good example of do as I say and don't do what I do. In other words, gas up the jet and let the taxpayers suck up the cost of yet another trip to a state for a $5000 plate of food and a chance for a photograph.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
Sierras, those 77 trips were just to Crawford, it isn't all of the trips he took.
I hate to tell you this but this is how it has been since Reagan, as I pointed in the post. Now GWB took further and used it more than any other president. Obama is just doing the same thing that Bush did, yet he is being criticized by people that supported Bush when he did it.
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
28 Apr 12
Yes, I am aware those were only the trips to Crawford. To be fair, I pretty much only included the count on President Obama for campaign aka "thinly veiled business because someone shook his hand" trips.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
29 Apr 12
Sierras, I can tell you Bush created that trip while he was in office. These are FACTS that have records to prove them. Every time AirForce One goes somewhere there is a record, and the Bus administration paid the government back more than any other president in history.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
Andy, I agree that this is politics, but I am not telling you that what Obama is doing is good or bad, it is just par for the course (which is what I feel you are saying as well).
When it comes to SS, there was a budget surplus and in the 2000 election people had the decision as to how the money was spent. They voted for it to be locked away, but the guy that became president ignored the voters and spent that money. Thus, creating a situation today where we have a huge deficit in SS, and it will only get worse. You are correct that this has gone on for decades, but we actually had a time in the late 90's where we didn't raid it. I guess the republican congress and democratic president should be applauded for their restraint.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
Actually, I am presenting the other side of a one sided story. If you don't want to see what I am talking about that is fine, but there are ALWAYS two sides to a story and Mr. Cantor didn't want to "remember" what his idol did when he was in office!!!
@andy77e (5156)
• United States
27 Apr 12
Again... politics. Every election the opposition picks apart everything the party in power did. This happens in every country, in every decade of history, since the beginning of civilization.
You are not wrong, it's just... well... normal. If the situations were reversed, the people on your side of the isle would do, and have done, the exact same thing.
It's like the Democrats squealing about Bush raiding the Social Security trust fund. In reality, SS has been raided since FDR created the program in the 1930s. But no no, Bush was raiding it. It's politics. Everyone does this.
@Fatcat44 (1141)
• United States
28 Apr 12
77 trip is a year, that is more than 1 a week. Sorry, I don't buy in to that number. Someone made that up!
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
28 Apr 12
Fat, I wasn't sure if that was one year, or his entire presidency. That seems like a lot, but he did spend A LOT of time in Crawford.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
29 Apr 12
Fat, many presidents have taken family vacations, and many congressmen/women do travel home often. I agree that if Nancy Pelosi did that much travel she should have to pay the government back. It isn't like she can't afford it.
@Fatcat44 (1141)
• United States
28 Apr 12
Over 8 years I could see it. That would be on a trip about every 6-8 weeks.
Which I do not have too much problem because he was going back home and he has business there.
Pelosi went home every weekend in a 757, so why can't Bush go home once every other month? She did more trips than all of them, 4 x 52 =208. I heard she also used it for family stuff, which I hope is not true, but if it was, it she should reimburse the government, if it was for her trip back and forth to California.
A lot of Obama trips are family vacation, and some of them are not even his, but his wife is doing it more often, and sometimes he goes on way in one plane and she goes the other in another.
@Caterino (3)
• United States
30 Apr 12
Republicans are not blaming Obama for Air-force Ones usage, but its misuse. Obama takes it for anything and everything. The fact is, his personal jet costs taxpayers one hundred and thirty three thousand just to go one state over. He has used it roughly three hundred and seventy seven times in three and a half years. Their is a perk that should be used, but the misuse is tipping the scales. All Presidents got tp use it, but Obama takes that perk one step further and in this economy, he should be leading by example.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
1 May 12
I will tell you that his usage is on course with that of GWB. Bush used air force one more than Obama has in his first four years. But, republicans don't want to tell you this.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
27 Apr 12
Obviously, the president is going to use Air Force One, because that is how he travels. I think the real point is just how much campaigning the president has done and while the problems grow without solutions, he has blasted Congress for not doing anything while he's been busy going to fundraising dinners and making stops and speeches in swing states for the past year (the number stood at 113 in March 2012).
I think they should concentrate on pointing out the non-issues he keeps trying to hype and the obvious image reasons he is making these trips, not the mode of transport. However, every unnecessary trip is an expense.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Apr 12
As it was pointed out in the article, this is not new to politics. GWB did the same exact thing, and he did it often. I remember him coming to my state in 2001 (before 9/11) trying to work up support for opening our boarder with Mexico (could you imagine if he succeeded with that today?). Which was considered a play for Hispanic voters at the time (he wasn't even in office a year when this happened).
I understand every trip is an expense, and we all know that it isn't cheap for the president to travel. But, as you said it should be more about why these trips are made instead of mode of transportation.
@lampar (7584)
• United States
27 Apr 12
Spending Million of American tax payer dollars on President Obama personal election campaign trips is a big sin to Republican Party but not when billion is spent to prop up dictatorship around the world like in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Pakistan etc..It is not like both major political parties are really concerned about wasting tax payer money, they just on the different side of a same coin, one like to spend tax payer money on themselves, while the other like to spend it on tyrants around the world. It is a classic case of a pot calling a kettle 'black' .
