Apparently not only is Barry "Almighty" our first black president, but also, as it turns out, he’s our most expensive president, ever. But then I suppose you could argue that one kinda goes along with the other because of that whole entitlement thing that blacks seem to have going for themselves these days. We’ve never had anyone quite so adept at wasting the taxpayer’s money. And that fact the he’s black reduces the likelihood that Barry would ever be criticized, since no one wants to be labeled a racist.
Because it’s now official, Barry "Almighty, the ‘One’ we had all been waiting for, has now spent more time traveling abroad than other U.S. president in history at this point in their presidencies. That according to a forthcoming study from the National Taxpayer Union Foundation (NTUF). "The most internationally well-traveled President, through five years, is also flying the most expensive-to-operate Air Force One to date," NTUF wrote. And very little, if anything, has really been gained from any of this travel.
After what has seemed like an eternity, but has only been five years, in the White House, Barry has now taken 31 trips for a total of 119 days abroad. At this point in George W. Bush’s presidency, Bush had taken 28 trips for 116 days, while ‘Slick Willie’ Clinton had taken 27 trips for 113 days. Barry’s many supporters are likely see nothing wrong here and would likely argue that America has somehow benefited. But most of those folks don’t pay any taxes and therefore play no role in picking up Barry’s tab.
Ronald Reagan on the other hand, after having been in office for five years, had taken 14 trips for 73 days while Richard Nixon had taken 12 trips for 60 days after five years in the White House. Meanwhile, Lyndon Johnson took 10 trips for 34 days at the five year mark and Dwight Eisenhower took 8 trips for 31 days after five years in the White House. And you know, I suppose I wouldn’t mind so much if on most of these trips Barry wasn’t going off to some foreign country for no other reason than to apologize for his own.
Citing a recent report in the Washington Examiner that found through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that taxpayers are on the hook for about $228,288 per Air Force One flight hour in 2013, a 27 percent increase from the previously confirmed cost of $179,750 per fight hour that NTUF used in its last study, the taxpayer watchdog concludes that Barry’s flights have cost taxpayers more than any other president. But hey, I’m sure he views his many excursions as somehow being worth it. I disagree.
NTUF estimates that Barry’s latest waste-of-a-trip to Europe and the Middle East "will likely involve about 29 hours of total travel time, assuming a cruising speed of 575 mph between Washington, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, and Riyadh, and then back to D.C." That amount, the group says, is going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars. "Using the previous estimate, the total cost of flying Air Force One between those international cities would be about $5,212,750," NTUF wrote. "Using the new data, the cost comes out to $6,620,352."
NTUF added that those amounts are just estimates, and the actual cost is likely to be quite a bit higher. "While these figures are approximations, and do not account for the additional (and likely greater) expenses of transporting the President’s Secret Service and diplomatic entourage, backup aircraft, land vehicles, and advance security teams, it goes to show that higher Air Force One operational costs substantially change the budgetary magnitude of these trips," NTUF wrote. But hey, it’s not like he’s spending his own money.
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