It may have all started because the New York Daily News was about to run a column suggesting Obama had visited cities and states large and small in his first one hundred days but never set foot in the "city that contributed the most money to his campaign, and the state that gave him more votes than all but California (where he has made two stops)."
As the News asked "What's up with that?"
The day before that column ran, the Daily News got their answer.
This was the image Obama was going for:
The Fall Out: Obama Political Appointee Resigns
Friday, May 8th Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office and the man who authorized the flight resigned. His letter of resignation is here. Former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino discloses that the Bush White House had advised the incoming Obama Administration to select a career military officer for the job but Obama ignored that advice and gave the job to Caldera, a political appointee.
Another interesting aspect of the incident is the inclusion of an Air National Guard F-16 from the Alabama unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all black Air Force unit. Speculation is that this was done for political reasons to honor the nation's first black president.
In his letter to Senator John McCain regarding the incident Defense Secretary Gates expressed his "concern[] about the use of an Air National Guard aircraft operating in Title 32 status as a participant in this event." Gates promises a continuing review which will hopefully answer some of the questions raised by this incident.
Days before the $357,000 photo op, Obama was holding another of his photo ops. This time to report that he had asked members of his cabinet to identify spending cuts in their departments. He revealed that the Dept. of Homeland Security had already made savings by buying office supplies in bulk.
It will take a lot of scrimping on paper clips to pay for his campaign photo of Air Force One!
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