A recent Organizing for America fundraising letter to supporters contained an ominous threat from President Barack Obama: “I’ve got 12 months left to squeeze every ounce of change I can while I’m still in office. And that’s what I intend to do.”
Not mentioned in the letter is his plan to squeeze out every ounce of travel he can while he’s still in office. In keeping with his reputation as a “permanent campaigner,” Obama plans to go on a global tour in 2016 to “seal his foreign policy legacies.”
Obama will be spewing carbon from Air Force One into the atmosphere of every corner of the globe to promote his “progress against the Islamic State and significant global movement on climate change,” courtesy of the American taxpayer.
Obama has asked aides to set a busy international travel schedule for him in his final year, with “half a dozen” trips already in the works and more potentially coming together. The travel will be aimed at cementing a foreign policy legacy he hopes will include the Trans-Pacific Partnership, increased attention to Asia, an opening of Latin America, progress against the Islamic State and significant global movement on climate change.
Obama has spent more time traveling abroad than any other U.S. president in history, a study from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) found in March of 2014.
“The most internationally well-traveled President, through five years, is also flying the most expensive-to-operate Air Force One to date,” NTUF wrote.
But there are apparently still some countries left out there that “the President of the World” hasn’t yet toured — and time’s a-wasting. Indeed, “how little time Obama has left is part of nearly every conversation,” according to Politico.
The only continents the White House is ruling out as presidential destinations are Australia and Antarctica. And while another multi-stop trip to Africa is also off the table (after a visit to Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015), aides familiar with the matter say, a single stop there tacked onto another trip, perhaps one to Europe, is still possible.
Four trips have already been scheduled.
Barack Obama allegedly built his political career on “audacity” — which his supporters will always think of in its most favorable light: “a willingness to take bold risks.”
The rest of us will always remember him “showing an impudent lack of respect.” And that will be when we’re being the most charitable.
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