Class vs. Crass: Martha Washington vs. Michelle Antoinette Obama
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In 1777, Martha Washington had the option of remaining at Mount Vernon, her home with then-General George Washington, where she had all manner of luxuries and comforts available to her in a warm house packed with friends, loved ones, and servants. Instead, she chose to live in tents freezing in the Pennsylvania winter at Valley Forge so she could be with her husband and his troops while they were encamped in winter quarters during the Revolutionary War. Lady Washington entertained the other officers’ wives, organized teas and social events, and did all she could to keep her husband’s spirits up while he served his country.
In 2010, Michelle Antoinette Obama cost American taxpayers an extra $63,000 for her latest no-expense-spared vacation, this time to the Hawaiian islands. Instead of waiting an extra two days to fly there on Air Force One with her husband, the current First Spouse demanded a private 737 jetliner for herself and her ostentatious 30-person retinue. In the midst of a depression when tens of millions of Americans are out of work, Michelle Antoinette didn’t want to forgo two days in tropical paradise to save the Treasury more money than the average household makes in an entire year.
Class vs. Crass.
© 2010 – 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- Class vs. Crass: A History of American First Spouses from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama and Beyond — Part 12
- Class vs. Crass: Lucy Hayes vs. Michelle Antoinette Obama; Christmas Edition
- Class vs. Crass: A History of American First Spouses, from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama and Beyond — Episode 13: Todd Palin
- RESEARCH: First Ladies for Class vs. Crass
- Class vs. Crass: A History of First Ladies
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I keep hearing this $63,000 number. There is no way that she cost us only $63K. That might be for fuel. But I am certain that whatever plane she flies on doesn't fly alone – I'll bet she has at least one fighter escort the whole way, and maybe even another, decoy plane. All the airspace clearing, making other planes hold while hers refuels and takes off again? A 737 doesn't have the range to fly from WDC to Hawaii without refueling, at least once.
And, I was in San Francisco when Obama showed up for an adulation stop, and when we were scheduled to fly out we were halted on the tarmac for 45 minutes while Air Force One shut down the airport for take-off. This during airport rush hour. Add the cost of all the other planes who were delayed, and the cost of the delays that rippled through the system because all of San Francisco was late taking off and late being allowed to land?
No way it's only $63,000.
MathMom,
I know it is Christmas Eve, but if you have time, please research this out…and get links to facts to support it.
Your gut is probably right…but let's prove it. The assumption is that her traveling staff was paid salary, so there's no extra charge involved in when they traveled with her. The Obamas had rented out the hotels and mansion for the duration…and Obama bumped himself back two days to do something in Washington…so those charges were already incurred.
We're focused on what it cost to take two planes, but we did not factor in any fighter escort.
Does FLOTUS get one?
We also assume her ground travel would be the same whether the POTUS is with her or not…she might ride in the limo with him, but her staff still needs their own cars.
So what all did the separate flights cost?
Great project for people who are really good with these details.
Care to lead it up?
Doing a bit of digging – looks like there is a special configuration of a 737 with 9 extra fuel tanks that can go 5500 nautical miles, (Hawaii is 4200 nautical miles from Washington, DC). So, I might have to eat my words with respect to refueling. The range of a commercial 737 from NYC would put it in the drink not far off the coast of California.
We would have to assume that the US Government would have as much range as possible for flying the queen.
According to Askville, a fully-loaded 737 gets 2.4 gallons per nautical mile. It's not a simple thing to calculate that, because of winds aloft etc., but this is the best I can come up with at my level of knowledge.
The queen would not fly cattle class with up to 215 commoners, but prefer the 40+ seat all-first-class configuration, or more likely, some special configuration for royalty. Still, I'd expect it to be a heavy plane because of security devices and the sheer weight of packing all those boob belts and thigh boots, so let's take that as a guesstimate pending better information. 2.4 gallons per nautical mile for 4202 nautical miles is 10084 gallons of jet fuel.
Jet fuel costs about $2.49 per gallon right now.
10084 gallons x $2.49 per gallon is $25,109 for fuel one way, $50,218 round trip. The plane will need to return to Washington, DC, but probably empty because the queen will have had enough of this degraded class of flying and want to come home on the "real plane". So, with just fuel cost, we're within shouting distance of $63K.
A pilot, co-pilot and navigator at a minimum will need to fly the plane, two ways. There might be two crews because of the distance, or just because they're flying the queen. There will be cabin staff to pay, food, drink, and those little bags of peanuts to buy.
Don't have time to try to find out what pilots are paid per hour or mile or whatever, but I sincerely doubt that you could staff and equip that plane for $13,000, considering the level of service the queen expects.
I rest my case.
Great work.
My source for the $63,000 figure was White House Dossier…which calculated the specific Special Air Mission 737 the Air Force uses to shuttle Michelle Antoinette around runs $6,300 an hour…but I do not know if that includes the flight crew costs in terms of salary.
Here's where it gets muddy: in my head, the Air Force personnel who would be flying that plane and staffing it would be paid whether they were flying that day or not…since they are salaried. I think these people are on duty every day whether Michelle Antoinette wants to fly or not, just because that is their assignment. I would love to hear from military members on their take here…but my gut says she did not really incur personnel costs with her "I MUST FLY TO HAWAII NOW!" demands and "I CAN'T WAIT TWO DAYS!" entitlement.
It's really the cost of the fuel and whatever upkeep and expenses went into flying the plane, when she could have just waited two days and had everyone fly on Air Force One like they were supposed to.
My Christmas wish is to make good friends with a forensic accountant or someone with financial OCD who could really do an expert breakdown of ALL costs Michelle Antoinette incurs for the American taxpayer.
She would actually make an EXCELLENT thesis project for someone in the accounting field who could do a life's research on just how much money Michelle Antoinette has burned through since she and her husband first acquired Secret Service protection (back during the primaries) and the two of them started sopping up public resources.
Because former presidents and first ladies get SS protection for nine years after they leave the White House, that means Michelle Antoinette will still be spending taxpayer money in the year 2024. Obama himself will burn taxpayer dollars for the rest of his life because he will always be allowed an office, covered by taxpayers, and a staff…but they both lose the SS protection in 2024.
They will, however, have to start paying their own way for trips to Hawaii in 2013.
That last flight to Honolulu in January 2013 on Special Air Mission-whatever as President Palin is making her way down Pennsylvania in her Inaugural Parade will be their final free trip on taxpayer's dime.
You're probably right about pilot cost. I didn't think of that. But what about "opportunity cost"? These pilots had a job doing something, and now they are ferrying the queen. How is the slack picked up for this, or is it the job of these pilots to stand around until needed by the needs of the president and family?
There are multiple hours of direct maintenance per flying hour for an aircraft, meaning a bunch of mechanics have to crawl around checking things out, and this cost would not be incurred had she just cooled her heels a couple of days. Again, these guys might just be standing around doing nothing but I expect their normal duties have changed because of this flight of fancy, and more people had to be shuffled around to cover it.
You can be certain that these costs will be amply dissected and published when President Palin makes a trip home to Alaska during her first term.
You are right about a new standard being used for President Palin come 2013.
But, I keep coming back to thinking about the ground crews, flight crews, etc. I have never been military, but I used to be the Director of Security at a hotel and I did a lot of HR and payroll stuff in that job.
Take our Engineering department for example. We had two engineers on each shift, and their job was to do a checklist of things checking all sorts of equipment in the building, and that was timed out to have X and Y done on a regular basis during the day. They were paid by the hour for an 8 hour shift, and this stuff always had to be done.
Now, on some days, a pipe would burst…so they would rush to take care of that emergency…but they would not be paid more to do that. That was just part of their job, but a part of their job they did only once a year, maybe once every two years, or whatever.
Some days, an order would come down from the Director of Engineering to paint a hallway…so that was a special project assigned to them on a certain day, for which they were not paid anything more for. It was just their job too, only they did not do it all the time, but they did it more often than fixing a broken pipe.
So, the way I see it — and I might be totally wrong — those flight crews and mechanics are like the Engineers from the hotel. They are paid whatever they are paid to be flight crew and engineers. On days that Michelle Antoinette is not flying, they are doing SOMETHING…like the Engineers' checklists. Part of their job is also to fly Michelle Antoinette when she wants to fly, which is not every day. So, to me, that's like the Engineers being assigned to paint the hallway.
The cost of the paint, brushes, drop cloths, tape, and whatever else that went into painting the hallway is an ADDED COST…but the Engineers would have been paid whether they were painting that day or just doing their regular checklist.
I know this is a very simple example, and hotels are not the military or aviation, but this is where my mind goes with this.
I think you win this round, Kevin!
Your logic is sound, and you've narrowed it down very nicely.Even this column is narrow!:o)
Jet fuel is more expensive than gaasoline. Good hedging might bring down the price, but currently Jet A at Goodyear Airport in Arizona is listed at $4.59 per gallon. So the cost was probably more than $63K for fuel alone.
cate007
I got my number from the IATA website. I'd seen higher prices online, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. Do you know what makes the IATA price so much lower than in Phx area?
With respect to the question about fighter escort, I don't know how to find out that information. But it would not do to have the First Family shot out of the sky by a practitioner of the Religion Of Peace with a shoulder rocket launcher, at least without a fight, would it? There would almost certainly have to be fighter escort.
On the ground in Hawaii, there will be either an extra motorcade (so there might be another plane carrying vehicles) or an extra helicopter flight from Hickam AFB to where the queen is staying.
Ah! Just checked the Hawaii paper. Motorcade, streets blocked off, neighborhood disrupted.
There will be twice the disruption cost to air traffic control as each plane gets to Hawaii, but the main airport may not be shut down because the First Family and the president would land at Hickam AFB. When my husband was in Intel, I accompanied him on a trip to Hawaii, and while we were there George H. W. Bush arrived. Air Force One stayed at Hickam, for security reasons.
Still, airspace will have to be cleared during landing. Now we also know that local traffic was disrupted by the arrival of the queen, and again when Barky arrived.
it would not do to have the First Family shot out of the sky by a practitioner of the Religion Of Peace with a shoulder rocket launcher
The VIP 737 should have the requisite counter-measures built in that can defeat a Stinger-type weapon. Fighter cover is for engaging other aircraft, first to steer them away or otherwise move away from the escorted aircraft, with the ultimate bit being the shoot down.
And that 737 is probably rigged to accept a mid-air refueling drogue from a KC-10 or KC-135, so they won't actually have to stop for gas.
Aside from the cost of ferrying the royal couple over to the islands, the cost of the 5 bedroom house they are staying in runs $3500. a night. You have to factor in the additional cost of housing the courtiers and security personnel–which I am sure we are paying for also. 10 days = $35,000. for the royal family alone.
BTW–She has already had a shopping mall cleared for one of Her little shopping trips. He has already played one round of golf. It must be nice to be royalty.
Nice that she can close down a shopping mall. I mean, no one would be using it for anything, would they, especially at this time of year?
Reading that article you linked to where it says that a 10 hour flight costs $63,000. That is just a one way trip. The plan then has to be flown back to Washington, so her majesty can fly home on AirForce One with her king.
So wouldn't that mean the flight costs tax payers $126,000?
There is just a never ending stream of these, aren't there? Unbelievable.
To be fair. Who wants to share a flight with Barack?
Remember the Republican ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCG1PD4cirE
Reggie Love and Kal Penn.