Posted on 10/18/2015 11:06:47 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
WASHINGTON — President Obama has already made clear what he will miss the most when he leaves office in 15 months. “People sometimes ask me what the biggest perk of being president is,” he told visitors at the White House last week. “No. 1 is the plane.”
In September, he told another audience that “the plane is nice” and that unfortunately for him “my lease is running out,” so he might soon have to “start taking off my shoes again going through security.” In Kenya in July, he noted that when he visited as a young man his luggage was lost: “That doesn’t happen on Air Force One.”
Let’s face it: The plane is, in fact, pretty nice, and the president’s luggage is indeed very rarely lost. But the plane is also getting old. And so after more than a million miles of flying while in office, its current primary passenger is planning to bequeath his successor — or perhaps his successor’s successor — a new-and-improved Air Force One spiffed up for the smartphone age.
The Defense Department hopes to sign an initial contract with Boeing in the coming weeks to begin the long process of assembling a new presidential aircraft capable of ferrying the commander in chief around the world with the capacity to run a war from midair if necessary. Built on the frame of a Boeing 747-8, it will be bigger, more powerful, able to fly farther and vastly more advanced technologically than the current customized Boeing 747-200B jumbo jet.
Mr. Obama himself will not benefit from the trade-in. By some estimates, the new plane may not be available until 2023, when Hillary Rodham Clinton or Donald J. Trump or whoever beats them may be clos
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If he leaves office.
If Cankles makes it in, will it be dubbed “Broomstick One”?
If Cankles makes it in, will it be dubbed “Broomstick One”?
America needs a new one because the current scumbag has been flying that thing friggin everywhere! Just stay in wash dc you POS!
I’ll second that motion and the White house too.
They still haven’t gotten the stink out from the Clinton years.
I wonder if Donald Trump becomes president will he change the interior in having gold faucets, fine leather seats, etc.? Trump One twin =)
In this day and age, there’s no need for the President to travel. Anyone who really wants to see him can come to Washington. If there’s a nuclear war, let him fry with the rest of us.
The White House is a paradise. A perfectly fine place for vacations. And there’s Camp David.
I’d like to see President Trump sell the plane. And scrap the STFU speech.
Systematically strip the Presidency of the imperial-fascist trappings.
Then I’ll know he “gets it.”
The speech isn't mandated, just that it requires the President to periodically give Congress information on the "state of the union". Excluding Washington's speech, the next speech wasn't done until 1913. Up until then, it was just submitted in writing.
A speech is not mandated. A letter was historically common.
True. Plus the speech has morphed into a political show. The content never speaks to the condition of the country.
Gotcha.
I said SPEECH. A SPEECH is not mandated in the Constitution.
You would think that, after 9/11, they would want to avoid the Tom Clancy screaming nightmare of having the entire top layer of government all in the same room.
When he visited Kenya as a young boy? I’ve never heard that. I know he lived in Indonesia, but not Kenya.
The most important upgrade AF-1 will receive is when Trump is aboard as President.
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