Obama Peddles Global
Warming Fantasies, Attacks Political Opponents at Taxpayer Expense
by Tom Fitton1 Jul 2015Washington, D.C.
When President Obama and
his family members travel anywhere these days, it is best to grab hold of one’s
wallet. This is just the latest lesson Judicial Watch has pulled out of
documents received in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
directed at the U.S. Air Force.
Since the beginning of his administration, the president and
his family have become notorious for lavish political junkets and extravagant
vacations, subsidized by tax dollars and often under the fraudulent guise of
official business. According to records obtained by Judicial Watch through FOIA
requests and subsequent lawsuits, the Obamas and Bidens have spent more than
$40 million in taxpayer-provided funds on trips since 2009, beginning with the
Obamas’ much-publicized New York City “date night” in 2009 up through the
president’s most frequent golf outings and the first lady’s Aspen ski
jaunts. And that number is just the tip of the iceberg. The full
costs, many of which remain hidden, likely approach $1 billion.
Judicial Watch has obtained records
that show President Obama’s April 22, 2015, Earth Day trip to give a
global warming speech in the Florida Everglades cost taxpayers $866,615.40 in
flight expenses alone. Though billed as an
opportunity for the president to talk about climate change, press reports show
he used the speech to attack potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. The
records came in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request filed April 23, 2015.
According to the Air Force documents, the president’s flight
to and from Miami, Fla., totaled 4.2 hours. The Air Force documents also
detail that Air Force One costs $206,377 per hour to operate, meaning the
flight expenses for the trip totaled $866,615.40. Leaving aside the irony
of using Air Force One for an unnecessary jaunt to discuss global warming, these documents
show that taxpayers are being gouged for President Obama’s abuse of the perks
of office. They should not be forced to foot the bill for his continued
savaging of political opponents.
(The White House schedule for April
22 reports the president departed Washington at 10:20 a.m., gave his speech at
3:55 p.m., quickly departed Florida two hours later, and was back at the White
House by 8:10 p.m.)
In his Saturday, April 18, weekly radio address, Obama said
he was going to the Everglades to “talk about the way that climate change
threatens our economy.” Press reports following the speech, however, suggested
that he used the occasion to launch hard-hitting attacks on his political
opponents, particularly those vying for the Republican presidential nomination
in 2016, and those leading the opposition to his global warming agenda.
According to the New York Times,
“… his trip was also intended to sharpen a political contrast with Republicans
in ways that he believes will help the Democratic Party in the next
presidential contest, especially in states like Florida, where the impact of
climate change is already being felt in profound ways.”
Reuters reported,
“He mocked Republican Senator Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) 77%
[a leading opponent of the Obama global warming agenda] for
throwing a snowball on the Senate floor during Washington’s cold winter.”
The Secret Service has yet to respond to Judicial Watch’s April 2015 FOIA request
asking for documents about the costs of providing the president security on the
Miami trip, which likely will bring the trip cost into the millions of dollars.
As offensive as these latest junkets are, they are not
actually the worst.
The most lavish expenditure on record to date was the first
lady’s Africa trip and a
single Honolulu vacation,
which cost taxpayers $15,885,585.30 in
flight expenses alone. The single largest expense for accommodations was for Michelle Obama’s side-trip to
Dublin, Ireland, during the 2013 G-8 conference in Belfast, when she
and her entourage booked 30 rooms at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel, with the
first lady staying in the 1,500-square-foot Princess Grace suite at a cost of
$3,500 a night. The total cost to taxpayers for the Obamas’ Ireland
trip was $7,921,638.66.
A look back into recent presidential history shows just how
much the current administration’s operations have gone off the rails.
Midway through the sixth year of his presidency, Obama has
attended more fundraisers than George W. Bush attended in his entire
presidency, including 32 fundraising visits to the high-income environs of Los
Angeles County since his 2009 inauguration. Republicans Bush and Ronald Reagan
each had eight visits to LA County in their first six years in office. George
H.W. Bush visited there 10 times. The only outlier other than Obama’s 32 visits
belongs to fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, who attended 36 fundraisers in the
county over the course of his two terms as president.
Whoever the next president is, Democrat or Republican, it is
necessary to reform the abusive costs of the imperial presidency.
The Secret
Service
Earl
E. Devaney was a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, and a director of criminal enforcement for the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Note: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency is a U.S. regulatory agency for the environment.
William K. Reilly
was an administrator for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is the chairman emeritus for the
ClimateWorks Foundation.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the ClimateWorks Foundation, the NPR,
the Center for American Progress,
and the Climate Reality Project.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a
benefactor for the NPR, a supporter
for the Center for American Progress,
and is a board member for the International
Crisis Group.
Kinsey
Wilson was the EVP & chief content officer for the NPR, and is the EVP for the New
York Times.
Leslie
H. Gelb was a board member for the International
Crisis Group, a reporter, columnist & op-ed page editor for the New York Times, and is an advisory
board member for the Truman National
Security Project.
Madeleine K.
Albright is an advisory board member for the Truman National Security Project, a co-chairman for the Albright Stonebridge Group, and a
director at the Center for American
Progress.
Melody
C. Barnes is a senior adviser for the Albright
Stonebridge Group, Barack Obama’s
golf partner, was the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and the
EVP for the Center for American Progress.
Albright
Stonebridge Group was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
Carol M. Browner
is a senior counselor at the Albright
Stonebridge Group, a senior fellow, director at the Center for American Progress, was the energy czar for the Barack Obama administration, a director
at the Climate Reality Project, and
an administrator for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Albert
A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate
Reality Project, a friend of Orin S.
Kramer, and was a donor for The
Climate Project.
Al Gore Sued By 30,000 Scientists For Global Warming
Fraud
The Climate
Project was a merged organization with the Climate Reality Project.
Orin
S. Kramer is a director at the Climate
Reality Project, a friend of Albert
A. Gore Jr., and was an administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Lee
M. Thomas was a director at the Climate
Reality Project, and an administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Earl
E. Devaney was a director of criminal enforcement for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
and a special agent with the U.S. Secret
Service.
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