April 27, 2009
White House Orders Air Force One to Strafe Manhattan; Obama "Furious"
President Obama's White House was forced to issue an apology Monday after a photo opportunity gone badly wrong — an Air Force 747 plane did a low flyover over Lower Manhattan, prompting terrified citizens to flee from their offices and high-profile accusations of government insensitivity in the post 9/11 era.White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera issued a brief statement saying he was too blame.
"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," he said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, its clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."
The panic started Monday morning when a backup 747 known as Air Force One when the president is aboard flew by Lower Manhattan with a U.S. fighter jet closely following, rattling windows and causing some limited evacuations.
Hot Air has several video clips gathered by panicked citizens; judge for yourself if the evacuations or the terror the flight caused as the huge 747 made aggressive high-speed banked turns just above the skyline was in any way "limited."
President Obama, of course, is furious. I rather doubt that he was directly in the loop about the photo op beforehand, but he is certainly taking the heat for it nonetheless, and by the rules the game established by his own supporters over the past eight years, deservedly so.
Regardless of whether or Obama was personally involved in this decision, he is the head of the branch of government that made this decision, and if we've learned anything from his most vocal supporters, it is that the President doesn't have to directly participate in an act to be fully culpable for any adverse reaction.
If President Bush is to blame for torture, the recession, and trumping up fake WMDs to start a preemptive war as the left has howled for years, then President Obama has earned the "right" to take the blame for this debacle and every other than can be tangentially be blamed on his watch.
We know that Dick Cheney personally hung the Mission Accomplished banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, right? Therefore, it stands to reason that President Obama told noted genius Joe Biden to pilot the 747 over Manhattan himself. That's the new paradigm, established by out progressive betters, and I'm sticking to it.
Posted by: Tim at April 28, 2009 09:34 AM"President Obama, of course, is furious. I rather doubt that he was directly in the loop about the photo op beforehand..."
CY, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. The plane used was the President's own plane. Either Obama or someone close to him (Emanual? Axelrod? Michelle?) had to have been in the loop on this. I simply can't believe it's possible for just anyone to go out joyriding on AF1 without some pretty high-up approval. And I don't mean Caldera.
Regardless, I'm guessing he at least KNEW about it, even if he didn't give his specific blessing.
Hmm. Let's not forget that even during the campaign, Obama had an unfortunate tendency to immediately throw subordinates under the bus because The One is incapable of error.
According to news reports, this little photo op cost a third of a million dollars, and involved one of two AF One 747 aircraft. Perhaps Mr. Caldera is responsible, but in the Obama White House, run by a man who micromanaged a pirate hostage crisis on the other side of the world for nearly two days, even to the extent of preventing SEALS from killing the pirates until he was ready, is it logical to believe that Obama didn't know about the use of his private ride beforehand? Surely his chief of staff, at the least, would need to know such things for security reasons alone?
An interesting question that ought to be researched. It would certainly fit with the Obama administration's return to 9-10 and before.
Posted by: mike at April 28, 2009 10:45 PM
