So, About that Ohio Military Base that Obama Landed at Today but Plans to Close Tomorrow

Making his bazillionth campaign appearance today, President Barack Obama landed at the Mansfield Air Base in Ohio aboard Air Force One. Thanks to defense cuts that are set to take effect at the beginning of 2013, that base is on the chopping block. If it shutters, more than 350 full-time jobs and about 800 total jobs will join the millions of other jobs that have been destroyed during the Obama regime’s reign.

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Asked about the looming closure, WH press man Jay Carney really didn’t have anything useful to say.

The president’s flight may be among the last to ever land at Mansfield. Despite Carney’s lack of facts on the matter when reporters asked him about it, it turns out that the White House has been actively aware that the base would be shuttered.

The White House insisted Tuesday that President Obama is “committed to working” with the Defense Department to prevent the closure of the base where Air Force One landed Wednesday when it arrived in Mansfield, Ohio, on Wednesday.

But a letter from the Office of Management and Budget to a local congressman shows the Obama administration offering no indication — as recently as early June — that the facility would stay open.

“The administration appreciates the contributions and dedication of the National Guard, including the men and women at Rickenbacker, Springfield, and Mansfield,” Office of Management and Budget interim director Jeffrey Zients wrote on June 5 to Rep. Steve Austria (R-Ohio), who met with the president in March to discuss the possible closures.

But, Zients said, the Department of Defense has “made some difficult choices in the President’s FY 2013 Budget to support the new Defense Strategic Guidance within a more constrained fiscal environment.”

Zients assured Austria that a refueling unit will stay open at Rickenbacker and employ close to 1,300 personnel, but he offered no assurances on Mansfield or Springfield.

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So, the White House’s statement today, that it’s “committed to working with” DoD to keep the base open is…what’s the word I’m looking for? It’s right here on the tip of my keyboard. Right…a lie. It’s a lie.

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