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Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior National Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
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Air Obama
July 20, 2008 9:18 PM
With his trademark big red and blue "O" festooned on the tail wing, Sen. Barack Obama's newly retrofitted and re-designed general election plane was unveiled today after receiving a makeover from its shabbier primary season look.
The redone 757 North American plane also has Obama's "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN" slogan painted along both sides of the plane, as well as the Web address for his campaign.
Obama’s new plane has 104 total seats, with a new front area of the plane for Obama and his staff, separated by a curtain. Tables for meetings are in the front section for staff.
The Obama express makes its maiden voyage from Chicago to Shannon, Clare, Ireland, to refuel -- and then continues on to Amman, Jordan.
The only thing the new plane doesn’t have yet?
A candidate.
Thirty-eight members of the national press made the maiden voyage sans Senator Obama, who will link with the press corps after his congressional delegation trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thirty-one others are on this maiden flight, including Obama senior foreign policy advisors James Steinberg, Richard Danzig, Denis McDonough and Wendy Morigi, and communications staffers Robert Gibbs and Linda Douglass. Obama's "body man" Reggie Love is also up front.
The plane's new design partitions the press from the candidate and his staff with a new physical barrier. The new Obama staff section has new wider business class seats replacing the smaller coach-sized ones in the rest of the plane.
- Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
July 20, 2008 in Obama, Barack | Permalink | User Comments (102)
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A legend in his own mind! Arrogance and narcissism to the enth degree!
Posted by: Beckie | Jul 21, 2008 8:10:12 PM
Obama is a con and high on himself - and those supporting him have been duped by his cult of personality.
"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." - Obama, The Audacity of Hope
Posted by: JoseyJ | Jul 21, 2008 6:28:31 PM
The Washington establishment and Dem Party fixed the primary for Obama - and the DNC won't get another dime from this Dem family!
Everytime Hillary would win a crucial state by 20 or 30 or 40 points - on cue, the superdelegates would roll out for Oblahma!
Obama's positions on various issues aren't really important because he's a con and a cash cow for the corporate media and Dem Party that concealed damaging info about him through most of the primaries.
NObama!
Obama/Wright08
Posted by: Josey | Jul 21, 2008 6:23:17 PM
I heard he painted over the American Flag and replaced it with that big "Zero" logo.
Posted by: bromfield22 | Jul 21, 2008 6:18:06 PM
It won't be long before Congress renames the U.S. - the Obama States of America.
Obama's continued arrogance and hubris is yet another reason for this Dem family to vote for McCain!
Dems for McCain!
Posted by: JoseyJ | Jul 21, 2008 6:17:54 PM
Does the new Air Obama run on solar power? Can someone please report on how much jet fuel the campaign is using en route to rallies lecturing energy reform?
It's as bad as Al Gore finishing his speech last week...then climbing into his caravan of SUV's and Lincolns. I'm not asking for him to use a fleet of Priuses. But c'mon. At least a token hybrid Tahoe or something.
Obama can just as easily read his teleprompters and beam the footage across the country without firing up Air Obama! LOL
Posted by: FishMonger | Jul 21, 2008 5:45:38 PM
What will Obama do without Tele-prompters? Or will he have them for every public speech he makes? (Am I the only person who has noticed that he constantly looks form left to right and back again, never straight ahead, lest he flub a line?)
"Change" I can believe in has substance behind the impassioned oratorical skills, and comes form deep within a candidate who cares about the welfare of his country, the world, and is passionate about making a difference -- and has the concrete plans to make this world a better place.
I DO NOT believe in arrogance so deep and vast that the candidate will stop at virtually nothing to get himself elected. Obama is devoid of substance, NEVER created substantive "change" as an IL state Senator, and began campaigning for the White House a few months election to the U.S. Senate.
I did not initially support Sen. Clinton, am a well-educated, upper-middle-class man, not a racist -- so I don't fit the Media's profile of a Clinton voter, yet I watched with increasing disgust as Obama's team played the race card when the president most sensitive than all others in our history to the needs of African-Americans was quoted out of context and accused of being a racist. He wasn't even running, his wife was.
Every time Sen. Clinton won another primary -- after being urged to drop out (something that's never happened before), she would lose more super delegates. When she won a true swing state, West Virginia, by 41 point, she didn't make the news, people didn't even know the magnitude of her victory. Instead, John Edwards, who had vowed not to endorse, was covered live by all the networks endorsing Obama.
Obama is treated like a deity or a cult leader -- that scares me. Nobody is asking him the tough questions; when you're in the Oval Office, it's not a game anymore.
I'm a life-long Democrat. This should have been our election to lose. Because the Democratic Party has disenfranchised over 18 million people, and chosen as its leader somebody who isn't fit to govern, Obama won't be receiving my vote in November.
Posted by: Steve | Jul 21, 2008 4:35:10 PM
Spock you got it backwards it's W who wanted no time table and its mcsame who wants bases. Now it appears that the repubs are doing there typical campain stuff and just saying they did something good when in reality they haven't. You can throw in that untill they are ready but what is mcsame offering? Continued war in Iraq thats what! bases and occupation he's said it over and over and hasn't thrown in the utill they are ready. 100 years ring a bell. Trying to connect Obama to Bush is an act of desperation! And even Bush is better than Mcsame.
Obama 08!!!
Posted by: Joe | Jul 21, 2008 2:47:31 PM
Obama's superficial trip to Europe only enhances his ignorance of World Affairs.
He is only good for a speech, like a cheerleader....rah rah uh uh....go U.S.A.
And like the American Idol Candidate that he is, without the scripts, without the promoters, Obama is a shell of a Candidate....Axelrod is Obama's Simon Fuller.....
This Phony, Fool, Obama should not be the leader of our country.....
Posted by: carpenter.nyc | Jul 21, 2008 1:42:18 PM
it's not a big O on the plane, its a ZERO, and it reflects Baracks values.
Posted by: trettione | Jul 21, 2008 1:29:52 PM
Lets see Obama agress with Pres. Bush, know and leaving it up to the Iraqi Government to see if they are ready. Remember Pres. Bush stated that we will not stay in Iraq if they ask us to leave when they are stable.
So Pres. Bush's plan worked, and Obama is Flopping onto those coat tails!!
Posted by: spock | Jul 21, 2008 1:22:38 PM
-put Hillary in-
we will never surrender. on to denver, then november.
Posted by: iron my shirt | Jul 21, 2008 1:21:48 PM
You guys see soul plane? That would be cool if air force one was like that.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 21, 2008 1:17:49 PM
Does anybody really need MORE copies of the forgettable canned commentary of "Dr. Larry Hunter: Lifelong Conservative Republican Economist", whoever HE may be??
We GET it that Republicans have a crush on the fading "post-partisan" one -- it's actual DEMOCRATS who ... don't.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 1:16:08 PM
"he offers us a chance back from the abyss that Bush has thrown us into"
-----
Hahaha: by shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan? Get a clue -- the dyslexic one is a front-man for the right.
The one "back from the abyss" vote he could have made -- on FISA -- he voted with the Republicans, not the Democrats.
Get a clue.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 1:12:50 PM
One thing about all this Denver BS is only 6% of democrates agree with you guys. So cry all you want if you want a gaurenteed losing candidate throw obama out and put Hillary in. I know I'd stay home that day so would most of the college educated white's all the blacks and most men. Some of you people are just SORE LOSERS!!!!! If hillary was the best canidate and she lost that makes her not the best canidate. The best canidate wins. So cry all you want the rest of us will vote for Barack Hussien Obama and cheer him on all the way to the white house!
Posted by: Joe | Jul 21, 2008 1:10:26 PM
Wow, you Obama-haters are sure getting petty today. Go ahead, release your frustration. I realize how upsetting it must be to know that most of America - and the world, want Obama for President because he offers us a chance back from the abyss that Bush has thrown us into and which McCain just doesn't have the stuff to get us out of. McCain is a good man, but he just isn't Presidential material. Obama, on the other hand, may not be all that experienced as an executive, but he is definitely Presidential material. And a quick learner, I have no doubt. He will surround himself with the best possible administration (unlike Bush) and cabinet (unlike Bush), and he has plenty to choose from, both Democrats AND Republcans. You can scream "empty suit" and "inexperienced" and all the other nasty epithets you want to hurl at him, but the man is intelligent and no fool. He will make an excellent President. By the way, he never referred to primaries in 57 "states", he was referring to him and Senator Clinton being involved in 57 primaries - one in each state and then there was Guam, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Democratic Americans Overseas, etc. Also, I don't even recall having such hard times under President Carter. He was only in four years and hardly could get anything accomplished. When Iran took Americans hostage (though none died while they were in Iranian custody) that just sunk it for him. I don't recall difficult economic times. Reagan's (a Republican) 8 years were far worse economically. Mortgage interest rates were in the mid-teens in 1985. During Nixon's (a Republican) administration we had another gas shortage and a freeze on salary raises - I couldn't get a raise in 1973 because of him. So, why are you all bringing up Carter to compare?? He was a good man whose heart was always in the right place - unlike Nixon and this Bush(a Republican) who were/are definitely megalomaniacs.
Posted by: geecee | Jul 21, 2008 1:04:06 PM
"the primary was an anti-democratic sham"
-----
It certainly WAS -- and the Democratic "leadership" and its underlings can correct that at Denver.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 12:56:24 PM
Hey Lou:
Plenty of stuff out there about the economic distaster of an Obama presidency.
Try Denver Post, Hudffington Post, Pittsburgh Press, Newsmax.....open your eyes sir!
Plenty of economist says we will be in trouble!
Posted by: Jane | Jul 21, 2008 12:52:41 PM
"German media is reporting that Obama will prohibit placards and banners at his speech. Afraid of a few protests? This site does not seem to allow links, but you can try the publication bild with a "de" designation."
-----
No backpacks, no bags, no posters, no banners. Whatcha wanna bet a HUGE banner, in the style of the "What about the Huges loan?" one that so bugged Nixon, appears ANYway? (If don't understand this reference, search for that phrase.)
From the article: "Whether a live transmission can take place, is still under negotiation."
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 12:52:38 PM
Bush is consistent: Arrogant, egotistic and uninformed.
Posted by: Soetoro No! | Jul 21, 2008 12:48:59 PM
During and After the Speech Obama will make in Germany--- watch the pundits make the comparisons of Obama to Hitler.
CAN'T WAIT !
Posted by: carpenter.nyc | Jul 21, 2008 12:44:49 PM
The Denver Group has a special match going. It is trying to ensure a fair convention in Denver. The primary was an anti-democratic sham and we need to ensure that Democrats don't continue to shut out a huge element of the party.
Posted by: 57 states and counting | Jul 21, 2008 12:40:28 PM
"Obama is a 14 old mind in a 46 (when is it going to be 47) year old body."
Permanent adolescents make the best front-men -- no pesky arguments to their handlers, other than "Are we there yet??
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 12:23:12 PM
For once we r talking about someone exciting. What's the point of talking about someone who looks like a robot, thinks like a robot & moves like a robot. My friends, my friends. Ooooh shut up. No to Mcsame/Mcbush
Posted by: Carlos Mencia | Jul 21, 2008 12:22:33 PM
Most of these critisums are due to the fact Obama is the "new guy" so people just feel like Hillary or mcsame are entiled to be in a high office. What I find funny is most of the strong women I know never suported Hillary because she didn't have the guts to leave a cheating husband.. But at least if she were running as a republican we would have two good choices. But with mcsame he's just out of touch.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 21, 2008 12:22:03 PM
German media is reporting that Obama will prohibit placards and banners at his speech. Afraid of a few protests? This site does not seem to allow links, but you can try the publication bild with a "de" designation
Posted by: katmandu | Jul 21, 2008 12:19:54 PM
Obama is consistent: Arrogant, egotistic and uninformed.
Posted by: Soetoro No! | Jul 21, 2008 12:19:20 PM
Christian Science Monitor this morning (NPR raido) said PM Maliki that despite the evidence that Obama had a dearth of foreign affairs experience, he was still pleased to have met with him.
Coupling this with Obama's body language in photo with Karzai...Obama is a 14 old mind in a 46 (when is it going to be 47) year old body.
Posted by: iron my shirt | Jul 21, 2008 12:18:49 PM
"Mcsame is out of his legue"
Don't worry about THAT: McCain's the rodeo clown -- he won't be the Republican nominee.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 12:18:33 PM
Why are these meetings Obama is holding with these leaders secret closed door meetings.
'
Kind of makes you wonder what Obama is promising them to say what Obama wants them to say.
Is Obama selling out America in these secret closed door meetings.
JAKE TAPPER do your job for once and investigate what Obama is promising these leaders in these closed door meetins
Posted by: seller out | Jul 21, 2008 12:18:05 PM
"America desrves the truth"
Like W and the repubs have given us the last 8 years? These are some of the dumbest posts I've seen. People are quick to forget about Mcsame's bases that are unwanted in Iraq his lack of knowledge on the " Iraq Pakastani border"
Mcsame is out of his legue and if he were somehow to win. It would be a tremendous loss for our country.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 21, 2008 12:14:54 PM
Democrats waste so much money on at a 3 to 1 ratio of republicans and most of the time lose
Posted by: spiinner | Jul 21, 2008 12:09:11 PM
McCain makes first foreign policy gaffe of Obama's Iraq trip. On Good Morning America this morning:
Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
Uh, Senator, it's the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.
Posted by: cincyr | Jul 21, 2008 12:08:27 PM
Is there any news media that does not spin the news to make Obama look like Jesus
Posted by: spiinner | Jul 21, 2008 12:07:02 PM
riley
-Yes Obama has the makings of a dictator.-
I'm reading this all over the blogs. Stop Obama did a piece with clips from Chaplin's "The Great Dictator".
Posted by: iron my shirt | Jul 21, 2008 12:03:16 PM
The same Press who loved and wanted GWB and the war, now want/love Obama. That's a bad sign
Posted by: Anne | Jul 21, 2008 11:57:55 AM
"The photo-op will be huge no matter where Obama chooses to speak."
Yeah, yeah: and there'll be a long line of flags he can wrap himself in.
But he won't "choose" to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, and we can thank Merkel (not the pathetic "post-partisan"'s fictitious fear, promoted as fact by his gang, er, campaign, of appearing "too presumptuous") -- for that.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 11:52:36 AM
Belle Star,
The photo-op will be huge no matter where Obama chooses to speak. He is very popular with Europeans and that is refreshing. Finally a POTUS I don't have to be ashamed of. What a thought!
Posted by: Jane Hussein | Jul 21, 2008 11:47:37 AM
Yes Obama has the makings of a dictator.
Ryan Lizza (reporter from The New Yorker)was told there was not enough room on Obama's plane.
His campaign should at least have the guts to say that Obama is punishing those who criticize him.
Is he that thin-skinned and fragile or totally delusional and manipulative?
America cannot afford another president driven by blind ambition that only surrounds himself by those who tells him what he wants to hear.
This snub should tell the media to wake up to this man. He isn't a wholesome
saint that deserves their pampering.
America deserves the truth--the type of person and politician Obama really is and what he is willing to do for power.
Posted by: riley | Jul 21, 2008 11:45:10 AM
"Don't confuse Merkel who put her eggs like McCain in Bush's basket with "the germans"..."
Merkel kept the corporate construct from a biiig "Kennedyesque" foto-op at the Brandenburg Gate.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 11:32:07 AM
Dr. Larry Hunter: "If economic damage from well-intentioned but misbegotten Obama economic schemes is the ransom we must pay him to clean up this foreign policy mess, then so be it."
So Dr. Hunter believes we should sacrifice our economy in order to cut and run from Iraq. So what al Qaeda couldn't do with their attacks of 9/11, we should just voluntarily do just to cut and run from Iraq? Does that make any sense?
Posted by: James Danley | Jul 21, 2008 11:28:17 AM
When Obama hires Karl Rove to run his campaign, THEN I'll worry about a dictatorship.
Currently, however, Karl Rove is employed by McCain. AND IT SHOWS.
Posted by: Snarxon | Jul 21, 2008 11:18:41 AM
Belle Starr: You're so right. How DARE Obama think he's entitled to an AIRPLANE? He's against global warming, right? I HEARD HE EVEN USES ELECTRICITY in his campaign!!!
HOW DARE HE!!!
You people make me laugh!!!
Posted by: Snarxon | Jul 21, 2008 11:12:43 AM
Obama's plane was NEW just a few months ago. As for segregating the press in the cheap seats in the back, the humble one mightta made his move too soon.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 11:02:19 AM
Dr. Larry Hunter: Lifelong Conservative Republican Economist Supports Senator Obama
I’m a lifelong Republican - a supply-side conservative. I worked in the Reagan White House. I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years. In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole’s presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp’s Empower America.
This November, I’m voting for Barack Obama.
When I first made this decision, many colleagues were shocked. How could I support a candidate with a domestic policy platform that’s antithetical to almost everything I believe in?
The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional abridgment of individual rights vs. ill-conceived tax and economic policies - this is the difference between venial and mortal sins.
Taxes, economic policy and health care reform matter, of course. But how we extract ourselves from the bloody boondoggle in Iraq, how we avoid getting into a war with Iran and how we preserve our individual rights while dealing with real foreign threats - these are of greater importance.
John McCain would continue the Bush administration’s commitment to interventionism and constitutional overreach. Obama promises a humbler engagement with our allies, while promising retaliation against any enemy who dares attack us. That’s what conservatism used to mean - and it’s what George W. Bush promised as a candidate.
Plus, when it comes to domestic issues, I don’t take Obama at his word. That may sound cynical. But the fact that he says just about all the wrong things on domestic issues doesn’t bother me as much as it once would have. After all, the Republicans said all the right things - fiscal responsibility, spending restraint - and it didn’t mean a thing. It is a sad commentary on American politics today, but it’s taken as a given that politicians, all of them, must pander, obfuscate and prevaricate.
Besides, I suspect Obama is more free-market friendly than he lets on. He taught at the University of Chicago, a hotbed of right-of-center thought. His economic advisers, notably Austan Goolsbee, recognize that ordinary citizens stand to gain more from open markets than from government meddling. That’s got to rub off.
When it comes to health care, I am hoping Obama quietly recognizes that a crusade against pharmaceutical companies would result in the opposite of any intended effect. And in any event, McCain’s plans in this area are deeply problematic, too. Take drug re-importation. McCain (like Obama) says he’s perfectly comfortable with this ill-conceived scheme, which would drive research and development dollars away from the next generation of miracle cures.
But overall, based on his embrace of centrist advisers and policies, it seems likely that Obama will turn out to be in the mold of John Kennedy - who was fond of noting that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Over the last few decades, economic growth has made Americans at every income level better off. For all his borderline pessimistic rhetoric, Obama knows this. And I believe he is savvy enough to realize that the real threat to middle-class families and the poor - an economic undertow that drags everyone down - cannot be counteracted by an activist government.
Or maybe not. But here’s the thing: Even if my hopes on domestic policy are dashed and Obama reveals himself as an unreconstructed, dyed-in-the-wool, big-government liberal, I’m still voting for him.
These past eight years, we have spent over a trillion dollars on foreign soil - and lost countless lives - and done what I consider irreparable damage to our Constitution.
If economic damage from well-intentioned but misbegotten Obama economic schemes is the ransom we must pay him to clean up this foreign policy mess, then so be it. It’s not nearly as costly as enduring four more years of what we suffered the last eight years.
Posted by: Edward R. Murrow | Jul 21, 2008 11:00:09 AM
Edward R., in spite of all the strong negative hits to our economy (i.e., skyrocketing energy prices, continued slumping housing market and subprime mortgage fiasco, etc.) it still GREW 1% in the last quarter. And our unemployment rate is 5.5% -- historically a very sound percentage. Personal income rose 0.4% in May (not including the stimulus checks which increased the overall personal income to 1.9%), an increase over the 0.3% in April. These certainly are small gains, but they are gains none the less.
Posted by: James Danley | Jul 21, 2008 10:56:41 AM
All hat; no cattle.
Posted by: bct424 | Jul 21, 2008 10:36:29 AM
O'bambi gives new meaning to "delusions of granduer". It's interesting to watch a dictator in the makings.
Posted by: SadStateOfAffairs | Jul 21, 2008 10:35:58 AM
Leah DiMarco, Texas ..."I am happy to hear that Senator Obama has a newer plane. His other one didn't look very good and McCain has a spiffy looking one so Obama needed one too. I pray that this newer plane will have only safe journeys while our next President of the United States of America is on board." Oh, I didn't realize that McCain was going to be aboard Obama's plane.
Posted by: Another Dem For McCain | Jul 21, 2008 10:30:16 AM
LA Times:
"New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, whose long, long article on Barack Obama's early political days in Chicago's ward politics (available here) was the reason for the magazine's controversial cover by Barry Blitt depicting Obama as a Muslim, has been barred from traveling with Obama on his foreign field trip this week."
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 10:30:15 AM
He scares me overall and that is a fact. He is not the President yet but he certainly acting like it. He is going to be another Carter and he did NOTHING for us except make the interest rates go into the double digits and make housing go up even higher, We know because we bought house during that time and it was horrible. He does not fully understand what he is getting into and that is a fact.
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL IF HE BECOMES PRESIDENT NOW AND FOREVER AS I AM SURE HE WILL!!!
Posted by: Carol | Jul 21, 2008 10:30:06 AM
you wrote: "Dr. Larry Hunter: Lifelong conservative republican economist and former reagan official supports Senator Obama."
Dr. Larry Hunter stated: "How could I support a candidate with a domestic policy platform that’s antithetical to almost everything I believe in? The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional abridgment of individual rights vs. ill-conceived tax and economic policies - this is the difference between venial and mortal sins. Taxes, economic policy and health care reform matter, of course. But how we extract ourselves from the bloody boondoggle in Iraq, how we avoid getting into a war with Iran and how we preserve our individual rights while dealing with real foreign threats - these are of greater importance."
Dr. Larry Hunter does not endorse Sen. Obama's "ill-conceived tax and economic policies." He is supporting Sen. Obama because he is against the war.
Posted by: James Danley | Jul 21, 2008 10:29:44 AM
Dave, I believe the expenses are paid from donations to the Obama campaign.
Posted by: obamamama | Jul 21, 2008 10:27:35 AM
"I see the Germans are not real fond of him, probably because they see one of thier old leaders in Him. Same style, same ego, same techniques."
Amen.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jul 21, 2008 10:23:21 AM
Has there every been a candidate for president this full of himself?
Posted by: free to speak | Jul 21, 2008 10:21:53 AM
Any one know who pays for the plane, fuel and the passengers to go along ?
Please tell meits not the Middle Class he wants to make "Changes" for ?
Posted by: Dave | Jul 21, 2008 10:18:33 AM
Isnt it funny how politics has come down to who runs out of money first. What a joke. I am truly ashamed to admit I am American.
JT
Posted by: Jimy Jones | Jul 21, 2008 10:13:55 AM
Lou, gas prices are "out of line" because for thirty years the Democrats have advocated higher prices and have blocked every effort to increase our supply of oil. They banned offshore drilling and have continually blocked building new refineries. The Democrats and Liberals complain that the oil companies have leases on 68 million acres of land in which they have yet to drill. Well the majority of that land is on national park and national monument lands. Just because an oil company receives a lease on land doesn't exempt that company from having to prepare environmental impact statements and challenges to their plans to drill. Just the other day a federal judge blocked drilling on such a leased parcel of land. And then there are lands which the oil companies have determined there's not much oil or are just too costly to drill.
Now as for "unless someone goes after them where they are," you are absolutely wrong. Al Qaeda declared Iraq as their main battlefield in their jihad against the United States and Western Civilization. They are in Iraq and are currently on the run. Leaving Iraq before al Qaeda is defeated on their main battlefield will be seen as a military victory by al Qaeda over the mighty US military. And THAT will make the battle in Afghanistan even more difficult than it already is.
Finally, you wrote: "Bush was on duty when the Pentagon was attacked by and American plane, not to mention the World Trade Center." So what's your point? President Clinton was on duty when the World Trade Center was bombed by al Qaeda in 1993. Clinton was on duty when 18 US service men were killed by al Qaedain Somalia. Clinton was on duty when al Qaeda attacked our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 223 people. Clinton was on duty when al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, killing 17 sailors. I ask again, what's your point?
Posted by: James Danley | Jul 21, 2008 10:12:48 AM
Nice !! fit for president Obama makes me pride to be an american for the first time in my adult life !!!!!!! McCain's not the only one that can have a nice ride !!
Posted by: dems for the white house | Jul 21, 2008 10:10:25 AM
Obama is the Greatest Threat to national security, in a way this country has never seen.
I see the Germans are not real fond of him, probably because they see one of thier old leaders in Him. Same style, same ego, same techniques.
Marketing and PR are ok for Hollywood hoopla to superstars out of nothing. It is not what makes good leanders. Only a False and Fake Facade of one.
Best Stop, Think and reclaim your minds if you were taken in by it all. Realize it is your life and future and your childrens and grandchildrens future your throwing away on a Con man, A scam artist, a man with a speech.
Posted by: seah | Jul 21, 2008 10:09:31 AM
Hey Lou:
Economist have already stated that Oboma will wreck the country....he's another Carter
Posted by: Jen | Jul 21, 2008 8:07:08 AM
Jen, read it and weep.
Dr. Larry Hunter: Lifelong conservative republican economist and former reagan official supports Senator Obama.
Posted by: Edward R. Murrow | Jul 21, 2008 10:03:15 AM
Jen wrote:
Hey Lou:
Economist have already stated that Oboma will wreck the country....
**************
Jen, What "economist" are you speaking of, Phil Gramm? LOL!
Posted by: Jane Hussein | Jul 21, 2008 9:59:25 AM
He's going to need a bigger plane to hold his 300 advisers. Maybe with experience he can get by with less.
Overkill...
Posted by: riley | Jul 21, 2008 9:54:50 AM
Allen, I didn't read anything that indicated the plane's updates had to do with technology, just cosmetics and creature comforts, and of course that all-important "O". As for the URL, yes we're living in the internet age, so much so that everyone knows how to find any web address. Let me take a stab at it: barackobama.com or johnmccain.com. How'd I do? Obama is full of himself, and arrogance is usually a turnoff to voters.
Posted by: HoosierSue | Jul 21, 2008 9:50:36 AM
Only dems talk about saving the planet while jetting all over the landscape and owning multiple large houses?
Posted by: Bubba | Jul 21, 2008 9:41:55 AM
I am happy that Obama bought an AMERICAN MADE plane. He has my vote!
Posted by: seattle sam | Jul 21, 2008 9:40:02 AM
What's the big deal? Doesn't McSame have his own plane already? "The Double Talk Express"?
Posted by: mandy | Jul 21, 2008 9:38:23 AM
Obama looks more Presidential every day. He is learning fast. I think he will be an excellent President.
Posted by: Lou Longren | Jul 21, 2008 9:36:46 AM
Maybe Obama needed to buy a plane because of all the Republican hypocrites who were whining about him travelling on taxpayer dollars - but who didn't whine when McCain did the same damn thing. LOL
Posted by: kimbers | Jul 21, 2008 9:35:36 AM
Obama has a fancy new plane that is unmistakably his. Doesn't this contradict all the hooting and hollering from last week about McCain compromising the security of Obama's visit? Someone really concerned about security would have a plane that looked generic.
Good one, Stan, about the "green" plane running on hot air.
Posted by: katmandu | Jul 21, 2008 9:30:32 AM
----"AIR OBAMA"----are you serious---that sounds dangerous----
Posted by: Jesse James | Jul 21, 2008 9:28:20 AM
You know why Obama dominates the news cycle? It's not because the so-called "liberal media" loves him - it's because his campaign is more dynamic and he is younger and more vigorous than McCain, so there's simply more to write about. Did you know that McCain cancelled campaign events two weekends in a row? Face it people, the guy is OLD.
Posted by: jeremy | Jul 21, 2008 9:27:50 AM
It's good to hear that Senator Obama's plane has been updated. Our candidates need to have the best technology in this day & age. I'm also glad that Senator Obama put his web address on the side of his plane. It shows that his campaign is smart. In contrast, it's sad that McCain doesn't know how to use the Internet. In today's world, SO many businesses, communication and services are done online - so it makes me wonder how McCain can understand the World without knowing how to use the Net. The thing is - If you don't know the Internet, that really means you're illiterate to a lot of information.
Posted by: Allen | Jul 21, 2008 9:09:38 AM
I find most of the above anti-Obama whining to be hilarious. I think these individuals are ticked off that their candidate (McCain) didn't think of putting his logo on the plane first. And Republicans are now criticizing Obama on Global warming? These are the same people who have been calling it 'fuzzy science' for decades. Besides, what form of transport should he use while travelling internationally? Steamboat? Sheesh!
Posted by: RC-Toledo | Jul 21, 2008 8:55:18 AM
Another proof of his ego and arrogance! After all, how many people even see the plane?
Posted by: Aston | Jul 21, 2008 8:52:54 AM
Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?
Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as a law professor and as a legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship or written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.
It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history: "Generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment . . . " — when, among other wonders — ". . . the rise of the oceans began to slow." As economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama apparently works alone.
Obama may think he's King Canute, but the good king ordered the tides to halt precisely to refute sycophantic aides who suggested that he had such power. Obama has no such modesty. In the words of his own slogan, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," which, translating the royal "we," means: "I am the one we've been waiting for."
Amazingly, he had a quasi-presidential seal with its own Latin inscription affixed to his podium, until general ridicule induced him to take it down. He lectures us that instead of worrying about immigrants learning English, "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish," a language Obama does not speak. He further admonishes us on how "embarrassing" it is that Europeans are multilingual but "we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, 'Merci beaucoup.'" Obama speaks no French.
His fluent English, however, features many such admonitions, instructions and improvements. His wife assures us that President Obama will be a stern taskmaster: "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism . . . that you come out of your isolation. . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."
For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?
Posted by: cheri | Jul 21, 2008 8:27:39 AM
Wow!!
Politics really brings the anger out in people. Seems like every year we go through another election where everybody's anger spews out into the public.
Posted by: RktMan | Jul 21, 2008 8:22:45 AM
OH spare me the obamamania. Everyone I know, even hard core dems, are sick of it. It might backfire. So media who are set on Obama, don't overshoot that target, and turn people off with the constant rock start treatment. The american people know this cat is no rock star.
Posted by: Sick of the Obamamania | Jul 21, 2008 8:19:18 AM
Cool. Did you see him sink that three point shot?
GOBAMA!
Posted by: Bill in NC | Jul 21, 2008 8:18:00 AM
Hey Lou:
Economist have already stated that Oboma will wreck the country....he's another Carter
Posted by: Jen | Jul 21, 2008 8:07:08 AM
nomama's new airpl