Obama takes wife out to NYC for an night

[SebC]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Pretty much. If it helps the economy why not, now is the time....no?

No. My comment was only on the timing, assuming the alternative to going when the economy is cold is going when the economy is hot, as opposed to not going at all.

It's the same as saying if we're going to build a high-speed train between Calgary and Edmonton, now would be the best time. Which is also true.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Dude...


It cost 365,000 dollars just to fly the president's plane past the Statue of Liberty...without landing.


How obtuse can you be?

Ah, I'm pretty sure they landed that sucker.

[mykalberta]

Not my country, not my tax dollars.

[LIP MAN]

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

You do know that the New York office is an investigatory office for the treasury department and not a presidential protection detail.

Beyond the presidential protection stuff, the secret service reports to the treasury department and investigates things like bank fraud, conterfeiting etc.

Those guys aren't an advanced team in any shape or form.

Yes I am warll aware of the other roles of the Secret Service, that's how I knew to look up their field offices. It's kind of the whole point of my post don't you think? There are thousands of Agents around the country, it seems unlikely that they need to spend some special detail as an advance team when there are already agents on the ground who are trained to investigate security risks etc.(which I'M sure that all agents are trained to do) All they should need is one supervisor from the presidential detail to direct the advance inquiries. I will admit that I can't prove that, which is why i said that it 'casts doubt' rather than proving my point, but even without knowing for sure, I'd be willing to bet that I'm closer to the mark.

Even if there is a special detail that comes from Washington every time Obama goes anywhere, again as has been pointed out, these guys are doing this all the time and the extra costs are simply a requirement of having a publically visible president. Are Presidents only allowed to go out on the town when the economy is roaring along?

Furthermore, I would guess that the NYC office is probably equipped to handle operations relating to a presidential visit given the size of NYC and the presence of the UN there. As such, I find it doubtful that some sort of expensive operations centre was set up for this one night visit.

Again, if you think these things through objectively, I think that a trip NYC is probably one of the least expensive things the president can do besides sitting at home watching HBO. Of course if he did that somebody would complain about him having premium cable on the taxpayers dime during a recession as well.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Not my country, not my tax dollars.

Just what I was thinking. About as interesting and relevant as mustard.

[Azure]

The advance detail that goes ahead of the President to set everything up is a special team based out of Washington.

His personal protection detail is ALSO based out of Washington.

They do get help from the agents based around the country, but nothing serious.

Agents flew in, set up an operations centre, probably in a hotel suite with lots of room, and proceeded to map out how everything would go. While it may seem to you and me that it was just a simple trip....it wasn't, and every move Obama made was planned out.

I think there are 3-4 advance teams, and 3-4 different shifts of agents that protect the President at all times. All of them are based out of Washington.

When the president travels, an advance team of Secret Service agents works with host city, state and local law enforcement, as well as public safety officials, to jointly implement the necessary security measures.

http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml

Officer Hemsley is also part of the Presidential Advance Team. The Advance Team begins preparations for a Presidential visit prior to the President's arrival. Along with other representatives from the White House, the Advance Team secures all areas the President plans to visit, sets up metal detectors to screen visitors who will attend an event, plans travel routes for the Presidential motorcade, and transports necessary equipment and vehicles. The Advance Team then stays until the President completes his trip.

http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/kids/ins...pring98-4.html

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Just what I was thinking. About as interesting and relevant as mustard.

I shall take that as a compliment.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

also, you can throw out the whole security costs, because those costs are with him 24/7, not just for his nights out, so its no different than spending the night out in washington.

edit: redundant, nm

[DESS]

As an aside, have any upskirts of Michelle Obama shown up on the net yet? Just wonderin'.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by DESS

As an aside, have any upskirts of Michelle Obama shown up on the net yet? Just wonderin'.

Only one, but she has a tatoo of a dog

(i'm joking, i know of no such picture)

[CaptainCrunch]

rolls up newspaper

[onetwo_threefour]

I will stand corrected on at least some of what I posted, but would still guess that HOZ's estimates are off by an order of magnitude.

I imagine if there is a special detail they will have their own planes, trucks and equipment and the extra costs are again, related only to the travel requirements such as fuel, food and lodging. Does any one really think that comes anywhere very near 1 or 2 Million?

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

I will stand corrected on at least some of what I posted, but would still guess that HOZ's estimates are off by an order of magnitude.

I imagine if there is a special detail they will have their own planes, trucks and equipment and the extra costs are again, related only to the travel requirements such as fuel, food and lodging. Does any one really think that comes anywhere very near 1 or 2 Million?

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the hotel also gave them a free stay for the publicity!

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the hotel also gave them a free stay for the publicity!

You think? I bet they charged more because they probably couldn't rent out the place to anyone they wanted. The other hotel patros would have to be vetted by the SS.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

You think? I bet they charged more because they probably couldn't rent out the place to anyone they wanted. The other hotel patros would have to be vetted by the SS.

Why? We're talking about the advance team, not the Obama's. I got the impression that the Obama's would have gone back to WAS that night. There was no mention of a hotel stay in the article. Of course, I doubt a hotel would give a free stay to a bunch of Secret Service guys.

But again, I'm one of those who sees this as a couple of hundred grand at most being spent in the American economy so the president can have at least a semblance of a real life for a night.

[edn88]

Although the econonmy is in a recession, I believe the the President is actually sending the right message - spend some money (if you got it to spend).

The other message he is sending is - spend on American products & services. I think this is an entirely different conversation if he flew to Paris, stayed in a Parisien hotel and saw a show there.

The reality is that this man is the President of the United States of America - if that doesn't allow him to have a few perks (golf, go to a show, fool around with the intern), then we need to move to communist system where everyone is equal.

I am just making this number up (which seems to be the method of madness in this thread), but if they spent $2M on his trip, I think that at least 20 American jobs should be created as a result. The President should in fact travel to more American towns and spread the taxpayer wealth.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

I will stand corrected on at least some of what I posted, but would still guess that HOZ's estimates are off by an order of magnitude.

I would tend to agree.

I imagine if there is a special detail they will have their own planes, trucks and equipment and the extra costs are again, related only to the travel requirements such as fuel, food and lodging. Does any one really think that comes anywhere very near 1 or 2 Million?

Who knows?

Even if they did....who cares?

Making an issue over something like this is really, really stupid. Sure, it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but come on....there a LOT of other, worthwhile things to attack Obama with.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by edn88

I am just making this number up (which seems to be the method of madness in this thread), but if they spent $2M on his trip, I think that at least 20 American jobs should be created as a result. The President should in fact travel to more American towns and spread the taxpayer wealth.

Better yet, why not let the taxpayers spend that wealth themselves?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

It's absolutely true that Bush got a lot of flak for things that were pretty clearly not his fault. I'll give just one example, but there are many: blaming Bush for 9/11 is pretty simple-minded, memos notwithstanding. It is absolutely true that a memo crossed Bush's desk saying that Al Qaeda planned to fly planes into buildings, but we have to remember the signal-to-noise ratio here. That memo was likely preceded, and followed, by dozens of equally alarming ones that amounted to nothing in the end.

Not to mention that Bush was pretty new at his job, and had no real relevant experience--he had a pretty steep learning curve that first year, and even the most ardent Bush-basher has to admit that after a very tough start, Bush did get a little bit more competent.

But I certainly don't remember any of this nonsense about millions of dollars when he attended the Winter Olympics, or when he went to baseball games, or when he went to Crawford Ranch to clear brush, etc. etc. Presidents travel. It costs money. That money is the cost of doing business for the POTUS.

This "controversy" is silly. I'd call it a storm in a teacup, but it's really more of a thimble. In order for this to have any legs, you either believe the "optics" are bad, which they aren't proving to be, or you believe the cost was enormous, which it in all probability was not in relation to the daily cost of doing business in the White House.

We can make up numbers all day long if we want, but here's the truth: none of us knows what it cost. If the cost were exorbitant in relation to daily presidential costs of business, it likely wouldn't have been done.

If this is Obama's big controversy, he must be having a pretty good presidency so far.