WASHINGTON (AP) — Climbing onto Air Force One for the first time since taking office, President Barack Obama is showing his determination to push an economic rescue package through Congress.
The trip Thursday to a House Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg, Va., is a telling choice for Obama’s first trip outside the Washington area.
“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.
For the short flight, Obama won’t ride on the big 747 but one of the smaller jets that fill out the presidential fleet. Air Force One, with its history and distinctive markings, makes a statement — and seldom more so than on the commander in chief’s maiden voyage.
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, at 69 the oldest man to assume the presidency, 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 warned him offhand remarks there could cause trouble.—-Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]