Obama Plane Photo Op: Inexcusable

UPDATE: 911 Calls

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Clueless.

The Obama administration is clueless.

From the Wall Street Journal:

On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the U.S. president was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by a fighter jet. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.

The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor's office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.

As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan -- where the World Trade Center once stood -- the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by an F-16 fighter jet, banked and roared low near the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations. "Oh God, it was mayhem in here, just mayhem," says Rubin Shimon, manager of Styling Haircutters, a barbershop near Ground Zero. Many people took shelter in the shop to call loved ones on their cellphones.

It was all over in a half-hour or so. Then the finger-pointing began. "I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference. He'd been scheduled to talk about a swine-flu outbreak at a Queens school, but also sounded off at the federal government for its "badly conceived" flyover plan.

He chastised his own office for its role in keeping the flyover secret. On Thursday night, city officials say, a junior mayoral aide had been alerted to the flyover by the Federal Aviation Administration, which requested that it be kept secret. Someone in City Hall alerted the New York Police Department, but no public announcement was made.

Why would a flyover need to be kept secret?

A better question: Why was it necessary to get new publicity shots of the presidential plane?

Is that really high on the list of the administration's priorities?

The cost of the flights and the unnecessary fuel consumption was gluttonous.

That doesn't begin to address the extent of the fear that the idiotic photo op caused.

Putting people through that trauma is inexcusable.

Marc Mugnos was reprimanded for not apprising the mayor, and a disciplinary letter was placed in his file, a spokesman said. Mr. Mugnos couldn't be reached for comment.

The email sent to City Hall describes a "flying photo op" -- government-speak for a publicity photo -- to include two or possibly three passes over the area. The email, sent by an FAA official and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, lists flight patterns and specifies a photo-op altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 feet.

The email specifies that the information "only be shared with persons with a need to know" and "shall not be released to the public." It also says that, "Due to the possibility of public concern regarding [Department of Defense] aircraft flying at low levels, coordination with Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies...has been accomplished."

The email's author, James J. Johnston, of FAA air traffic, declined to comment.

An Obama administration official said the mission was "classified" by the military and that the FAA, which controls much of the airspace over Manhattan, did what the military asked. "The mission was to send [the aircraft] up to get a picture of it flying around the Statue of Liberty," this person said. "They said they needed to update their photo files." President Obama wasn't aboard.

The New York photo shoot wasn't the only one planned. The White House had scheduled a follow-up session on May 5 or May 6 in Washington, D.C., according to two government officials. The D.C. flyover has now been canceled, a government official said.

Louis Caldera, a former Secretary of the Army who runs the White House Military Office, took the blame. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption," he said. "I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

Mr. Caldera met Monday afternoon with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina "to hear the president's displeasure," an official said.

I imagine that Rahm Emanuel went ballistic.

It's horrible that the White House terrorized citizens.

Caldera is the fall guy. He had to apologize and take responsibility for this incredibly disruptive act.

It bugs me that Obama is so eager to apologize to dictators and tyrants and world leaders; yet he doesn't hesitate to slam America as arrogant, dismissive, and derisive. Obama apologizes to all our enemies and our allies. But when it comes to apologizing to Americans, he won't do it.

This White House has Obama in a bubble. The Democrats won't allow him to be seen as responsible for any screw-up. Nothing is his fault. Obama is protected from being held accountable for anything that goes wrong.

Worse, the lib media fall in line and spout this White House propaganda. They don't hold Obama accountable either.

It's incredible that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was completely in the dark on something as alarming as planes buzzing Lower Manhattan.

From the New York Post:

[Michael Bloomberg said,] "Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase."

Bloomberg said federal officials notified the NYPD and another city official, whom he declined to identify, of the flight plan.

"Had I known about it I would have called them right away and asked them not to," he said. "The good news is it was nothing more than an ill considered, badly conceived, insensitive photo op - with the taxpayers' money."

...Thousands flooded the streets downtown as buildings called evacuations.

Bloomberg's reaction is justified.

Obama claims to be furious as well. He could be upset that major missteps like this one are taking some of the luster off his image as the greatest president ever, just days before his golden 100 Days celebration. Maybe the word goes out that Obama is furious when Rahm Emanuel is furious.

The panic this photo op caused is inexcusable. I can't stand seeing the people running in fear. I find the images traumatic, reliving the terror of 9/11. The people in New York must have been overwhelmed.

I feel so awful for the people who had to experience that fear again, and all because of a lame photo shoot.



Add this to the list of Obama's mistakes in his first 100 Days.

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