|
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff The president of the United States travels in a government aircraftthat contains his private cabin and bed. When Air Force One takesoff and lands, all other air traffic halts. A motorcade awaitswherever he goes. And he has a staff that includes not justgovernment aides but chefs, porters, and a personal doctor. In short, if anyone can handle the rigors of the road, it s him. But President Obama has been keeping some long days lately, oftendue to fund-raising events for his reelection campaign. It begs thequestion of whether he is tiring himself out for his day job as thenation s CEO, chief diplomat, and commander in chief. Just today, the president awoke in San Jose, Calif., after 18 1/2hours of travel that saw him fly to Colorado to deliver the AirForce Academy commencement address, then on to Denver for afund-raiser - and then on to California for two more. The pool report filed by White House reporters accompanying himshows he didn t get to his hotel until 1:55 a.m. EDT today. Thatwas after Marine One dropped him off at Andrews Air Force Base at7:20 a.m. EDT Wednesday. At 11:30 a.m. today, he began his activities with a privatefund-raiser at the same hotel. He then flew off to Iowa at 1:15p.m. for an official event in Newton touting his To-Do List forCongress, as well as a campaign fund-raiser in Des Moines. He was not due to land back at the White House until 11:45 p.m. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who is on the trip, scoffedat any thought Obama was spreading himself too thin. No, he s not, Carney told the Globe in an e-mail. Younoticed his commitment to his day job included hosting weekend G8and NATO summits at Camp David and Chicago, right? That is quite true, as was another long weekend of diplomacy lastmonth when he traveled to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas. But a check of his official schedule and White House pool reportsfiled during the past seven weeks shows many of his late nightshave been related to fund-raising activity. For example, on March 30, Obama returned to the White House at10:20 p.m. after attending three fund-raisers in Burlington, Vt.,and Portland, Maine. On April 10, he returned at 11:45 p.m. after a government speech atFlorida Atlantic University and three fund-raisers in southernFlorida. From April 13 to April 15, he was in Colombia for the Summit, whichitself was taxing. The president arrived back at the White House at11:50 p.m. on April 15 - and then had no public events scheduledthe following day. On April 18, he returned home at 10:55 p.m. after an official visitto Ohio and two campaign fund-raisers in Michigan. He spent 2 1/2hours in Ohio; he spent almost five hours in Michigan. The next day, he received his daily briefing at 10:30 a.m., had oneofficial event at 2:20 p.m. to laud the University of Alabama NCAAfootball championship, and then left the White House at 4:20 p.m.for a fund-raiser at the W Hotel in Washington. On April 24, he visited North Carolina and Colorado for speechesaimed at pushing legislation to prevent a doubling of Staffordstudent loan interest rates. He did the same the following day inIowa, prompting criticism that he was using official travel toboost his campaign in general election swing states. When he landed back to the White House at 5:45 p.m. on April 25, hedidn t linger: 15 minutes later he was off to another fund-raiserat the W Hotel. The following day, he had no public events. On May 5, a Saturday, the president held the first official ralliesfor his reelection campaign. He traveled to Columbus, Ohio, andRichmond, Va., leaving the White House at 10:35 a.m. and returningat 6:50 p.m. Five days later, though, his late-night activities resumed. On May 10, the day after the president announced he was switchingpositions to support gay marriage, he flew to Washington state andCalifornia for a series of fund-raisers. He lifted off from the White House South Lawn at 9:40 a.m. EDT,landed in Seattle at 2:55 p.m., and left for Los Angeles at 7:15p.m. He immediately headed for a fund-raiser at the home of actorGeorge Clooney, where his speech was not scheduled to begin until10:20 p.m. The pool report shows he did not leave Clooney s house until 1:55a.m. EDT on May 11, and did not arrive back at his hotel untilnearly 2:30 a.m. After sleeping, Obama awoke for a game of basketball with Clooneyand Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire, before flying off to Reno,Nev., for an official event pushing the To-Do List. All told, the president was scheduled to spend less than 90 minuteson the ground, before spending 4 1/2 hours flying home. He landedat the White House at 8:25 p.m. On May 14, Obama flew to New York to deliver the commencementaddress at Barnard College and to appear on ABC-TV s The View, before attending two fund-raisers. He was scheduled to return to the White House at 9:40 p.m., but heran early, landing around 8:30 p.m., according to that day s poolreport. This past weekend, the president hosted the G8 and NATO summitsmentioned by Carney. He spent Friday night at Camp David for the former, before flyingSaturday night to Chicago for the latter. On Monday, he wrapped up his diplomacy at 6 p.m. EDT so he couldfly to Joplin, Mo., to deliver a high school commencement address ayear after the city was ravaged by tornadoes. He left Joplin at 10:41 p.m., and landed back at the White Housearound 1:20 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. He had no public events for the rest of the day, but yesterday, hetraversed all four of the nation s time zones as he flew off forone official speech and three fund-raisers - the last of whichdidn t wrap up until early this morning. Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him onTwitter @globeglen. I am an expert from hd-cctvcameras.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Economic DVR , China Wireless HD IP Camera, HD-sdi Cameras,and more.
Related Articles -
China Economic DVR, China Wireless HD IP Camera,
|
