Reality check: the average professional-degreed couple in their 40s can easily afford to hop a train from DC to NYC, buy tickets to a Broadway show, and spend one night in a hotel before hopping the train back to DC to work in the morning. Unless we want our Presidents to get assassinated on a regular basis, this is just not how things work for them. And unless we want to further weaken the already deplorably weak list of people wanting the job of POTUS, we'd better be willing to shell out for the standard AF1 transportation and Secret Service entourage that all Presidents in our lifetime have required when going anywhere. Being POTUS shouldn't mean not having a life, and if we insist that it must, then we'll have only ourselves to blame if we have a depressing choice of candidates again in 2012.
I say weaken the list then.
I do not want a President who only wants the job because of the benefits.
I pray to God these types take their names off of the list.
If serving American citizens, upholding the Constitution, and living in our White House isn't enough incentive to run for President, then by all means, go away.
Barry needs to learn that the job shouldn't be treated as a 9 to 5. He wanted to be Prez, he got it, now go to work.
If our enlisted service men and women can sacrifice time with their families and maybe their own lives, then the Commander in Chief better be willing to do the same.
How sad it is that America elected this piece of garbage.
I don't know where you live, but let me represent to you that there are an astounding number of cultural opportunities in DC, within ten minutes of the White House: concerts, clubs, shows, restaurants, galleries, museums, private parties, et cetera ad infinitum. Those living in that enormous house also have the ability to command a White House performance from any musicians, actors, or comedians they choose. They have no dearth of amusements here. And they have only been here for a bit over four months so they have hardly exhausted the possibilities DC offers. Heck, I've lived here for thirty years and I haven't yet exhausted the possibilities here.P>My point is that it was in no sense necessary for them to go skylarking in New York City or burn up the taxpayers' money on such a foolish whim. We aren't denying them "a life" if we suggest that this was a staggering extravagance and just what one would expect of a narcissist.