Obama says Air Force travel is 'not my choice' in sharp exchange.

Part of the article below.

President Barack Obama on Thursday firmly rejected any criticism that his worldwide travel on Air Force One or his family's vacations have left him out of touch with Americans' struggles, saying flying aboard the famed official plane is "not my choice."

"The fact of the matter is, I think if you look at my track record, I'm raising a family here. When we travel, we got to travel through Secret Service, and Air Force One, that's not my choice. I think most folks understand how hard I work and how hard this administration is working on behalf of the American people," Obama told KMOV of St Louis. The interview was one of four sessions the White House arranged with local TV in states expected to be battlegrounds in November.

KMOV reporter Larry Conners had told Obama that some of the station's viewers "are complaining, they get frustrated, even angered, when they see the first family jetting around, different vacations and so forth, sometimes maybe, they think, under color of state business and that you're out of touch, that you don't really know what they're experiencing right now."

"Well, I don't know how many viewers you're talking about that say that," Obama countered. "We do hear from some," replied Conners. "I hear from all kinds of viewers about everything," Obama shot back. "I'm sure you do," said Conners.

I do not know who traveled less and who traveled more.
Bush or Obama, Clinton or Reagan. And frankly - I do not care. What I do care
about is today and today:


#1. We have a President who is for environment
and not just in words (like Bush) but a full pledge environmentalist, some may
say. Proponent of "Cap-and -Trade". Stop the fossil fuel and carbon
emissions. Go green with solar and wind and algae. Electric cars and all.


#2. We have a President who is for
deficit reduction. As a candidate, he
promised to take the red pen to the budget and….there was no budget but he
order all of his agencies, one he became the President to look for and
implement savings and reductions in spending.
The President, who appointed special panel to see where and how we could
cut the deficit and received the report from the panel.

#3. The President,
who was a “Main Street” not the “Wall Street” guy. Wall Street executives and CEO’s, who travel
on private jets to hit a few on the green = exploitation of workers. Tax them more. The President doing the same on the taxpayer’s
dime = earned vacations.

#4. The most computers savvy President and Administration
ever cannot figure out how www.gotomeeting.com
works and implement that idea in the White House to save the environment, taxpayer’s
money, the time of the President and his staff?I, for one, am tired of it.