WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Suffice to say, President Barack Obama likes his new ride.Before taking off on Air Force One on Thursday for his first trip as president, Obama came to the back to the plane where the traveling press corps sits to show off his “spiffy jacket” — an Air Force crew launch jacket with his name stitched on the breast.”What do you think about this spiffy ride? It’s not bad,” the president said to reporters.The massive blue-and-white, specially outfitted 747 makes a statement wherever it goes.Obama said he had been a guest on the plane with former President George W. Bush — though on which of the two in the Air Force’s presidential fleet he could not recall. He also had flown on one of the smaller jets in the fleet from Chicago to Washington in the days before his inauguration. But it wasn’t called Air Force One then — the moniker is used only when the president is on board.Obama was clearly impressed finally to have the full experience.The helicopter ride from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base also got the nod. “Very smooth, very impressive,” Obama said, adding that the view is “spectacular.””You go right over the Washington Monument and then you kind of curve in along the Capitol,” he remarked.The flight from Washington to Williamsburg, where Obama was attending a retreat of House Democrats, was only 37 minutes. The purpose of his maiden journey outside Washington was to push his economic rescue package through Congress, a telling choice for a president who took office at a time of deep economic uncertainty.”He’s saying that he’s willing to go anywhere and talk to anybody in order to get a recovery and reinvestment plan that moves this economy forward,” press secretary Robert Gibbs said.On departing from the South Lawn, Obama broke from tradition as he boarded Marine One, the presidential helicopter. He seemed to stun the Marine standing at attention by reaching out to shake his hand. The Marine obliged, shaking the president’s hand before returning to a steady salute.Then at Andrews, Obama climbed the stairs and headed straight on the plane, with no wave to observers below as is traditional.As for other recent presidents, George W. Bush’s first flight as president may sound familiar. Two weeks after his swearing-in, and following the bitter 2000 recount battle, he went to a resort near Pittsburgh to talk to skeptical Democratic lawmakers. The subject was his tax cuts.For Bill Clinton, the first flight was to Detroit for a televised town hall meeting, a format seized on during the 1992 campaign. Calling on the first questioner, Clinton said: “I suspect this is going to be about, well, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.'”In 1989, Bush’s father, a former Navy pilot, took his first Air Force One trip as president to the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. Long before his son’s notorious “Mission Accomplished” speech, Bush spoke on an aircraft carrier — about wasteful military spending.Ronald Reagan, the oldest man to assume the presidency at 69, took a more leisurely approach. His first out-of-town trip was by helicopter to a restful weekend at Camp David in Maryland. His maiden Air Force One trip was to California — and a restful weekend at his ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains.Presidents invariably reveal their personality on board.The garrulous Clinton would restlessly roam the jet, chatting with aides and reporters or sitting down to play hearts. The younger Bush usually stayed put up front and hardly ever saw the press compartment; aides had warned him offhand remarks there could cause trouble.—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]