CHICAGO---In a newly painted 757--with the Obama sunrise logo on the tail and "Change we can believe in" painted on the sides--the Middle East and Europe bound Obama campaign press plane was poised to lift off Sunday evening from Midway Airport to meet up with presumptive presidential Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) after he finishes visits to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.
Obama's newly reconfigured plane is divided into first class for the candidate and his closest advisors--such as strategist David Axelrod, who is on the flight; business class seats, occupied Sunday by foreign affairs advisors such as Denis McDonough and coach, where 41 journalists who are part of the traveling Obama press corps are seated.
In the days ahead I hope to report on the substance of the Obama visit as well as the media circus aspects of the highly choreographed trip.
Obama already has booked interviews with network anchors and has a date to do "Meet the Press" from London next Sunday. The campaign announced at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning--but mid-day in Europe that Obama will deliver a speech on trans-Atlantic relations in Berlin on Thursday outdoors in a park near the Brandenburg Gate.
Fruit and cheese platters greeted the reporters on board the very pricey charter.
The plane will make a stop in Shannon, Ireland en route to a destination that I cannot say. Our overnight kits for the flight include toothbrush, mouthwash, socks, Neutrogena body lotion and lip moisturizer, Scope mouthwash, ear plugs and blindfold for sleeping.
The campaign is still requesting details of the Obama visit be kept secret. Obama arrived in Afghanistan early Saturday morning--traveling on military aircraft--and will soon be enroute to Iraq after a stopover in Kuwait.
The Obama overseas tour takes him to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England.
Dinner entrees are a choice of beef medallions, baked tilapia or eggplant parmesan.
When it is safe to, please do all you can to see that main stream media report seriously on the fact that though secret service and state department rules and requests require secrecy as to the candidates travel itinerary, McCain announced Obama's travel into a war zone while Obama was actually en route to that war zone. That is the very essence of unpatriotic and he endangered a presidential candidate for his own sick gain. McMoldy needs to take some heat for that. It was a really lousy thing to do.
yes we can ! I believe Barack Obama will be our next president!He deserves a brand new plane for his safety.
Congratulations to you and your campaign. Remain on the "high road" and stay a winner.
Awesome! I'm going to fantasize about riding on this plane with our next POTUS and Michelle and the girls!
Let it be!
Wonder how I can get this arranged????
Hmmmmmm
Carol
Very nice. And very befitting of our soon-to-be President. I guess we'll just call it Air Force O, for now.
What, no pics of the inside?
no fair.
Beauty of a plane from the outside but, I'd love to see some pics of the inside too, lynn!
thanks for the update and from one citizen to another, take care of our nominee and have a safe and remunerative trip.
be well.
The writer makes reference to "the very pricey charter," as if the bathroom fixtures were gold, implying there is some non-pricey way for a presedential candidate to fly.
I hope you are all comfortable. Looking forward to more updates.
Thank you Ms. Sweet
YES WE CAN
anybody remember that movie, "Soul Plane". All that's missing is the shiny rims. I wonder if the plane's hydraulics can bounce up and down.
Just joking. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during his two week tour around the world.
Obama 08.
Ok, i think i've seen enough.
Barack is the bravest, smartest candidate this generation has experienced. May he travel in safety and bring us all closer to peace.
Who's paying for this? We've already paid him and Hilary for work they didn't do. The campaign length is ridiculous. Why don't we shorten it?
Wow, pretty exciting Lynn. Have fun!!
What a smart move, a departure from the past presidential campaigns.Instead of inscribing the candidate's name and his running mate, the Obamas went for the message and logo instead of personalities, thereby avoiding media circus that would have greeted a parked plane in the hanger being redesigned.
In less than two weeks he is expected to announce his running mate. I don't think he will be redesigning his all over again.
Change in the air! Welcome AIR CHANGE, where the eagles beleive again.
Nice to know that somebody's still getting good airplane food.
Hello Lynn,
I love the plane and love the report. We are big on hope out here.
I love you although sometimes you are very hard on the hope candidate and frankly you let john McCain go because he is old... we know the drill, you guys in the press slant to coverage in favor of John McCain to level the playing field. But guess what our nation depend on it.
Why try to report anything if you don't have real news? No one is reading your column for the renditions of the galloping gourmet. I guess you thought your place was to be sitting in first class? Why did you go, anyway? You can't even do your job objectively. This mess is not cute or informative. Lawd I detest your snide bias un-reporting. All you do is complain. To think they actually made you bureau chief, were they just giving out titles at your paper that day? Sheesh!
I'm a big Obama supporter/campaign worker. I'm a bit worried that he is flying around with his HUGE logo on the side of his plane. It's bad enough that there are snipers on top of roofs to protect him while on campaign stops, but to invite the crazies with this--I just would feel better if it was more low key.
(all that was missing was "Dear Diary" for this rather had that ring to it...Frankly, itsy bitsy details of overnight kit,meal offerigs but mmmm, like almost would have preferred background on the plane itself..chartered 757, heading them off to Europe, painted in campaign logo..and painting an airplane is not cheap--so presume this plane is to stay for the rest of the campaign until traded in on AF1 and then perhaps mothballed til 2012 re-election/selection...Kinda expensive but given the state of commercial air travel that folks have to endure, makes sense but expensive and saps those $$$$ for sure...crew, maintainence,parking,loading landing fee's,food service on board,cleaning and WOW...going to need some $$$ to cover tht expense for sure !!!
Very interesting. The plane looks inredible. Well, atleast the reporters are comfortable.. lol
The Whole World Is Watching
Forty years ago in 1967 Carl B. Stokes was elected the first black Mayor of a major American city. I was the operations manager of that campaign along with my partner Geraldine Willliams. In 1965, Stokes had run and almost won in a city that was 70% white and 30% black. In 1965 he had come so close to winning that there was a recount. His victory in 67 was hailed as one the greatest moments in the civil rights struggle and also a triumph of the brotherhood of man. Partially, yes----partially, no. In the 1965 campaign there were practically no white votes for Stokes. In 67 there was only 15%. Not exactly a triumph for the brotherhood of man.! In fact, in 1965 I was his “white” aide and traveling companion to show not only the white community, but also just as importantly the black community that he had white support. Many in the black community said “it’s not time”---he’s not ready---will he win and bring disgrace to the community---will he be killed by the racists” Do these same sentiments sound familiar in 2007?
Also, in 1965 he was up against a potent political machine, one that regularly ”bought off” members of the black community. There were city councilman and black pastors all of whom had ties to the white establishment. Sound familiar in 2007?
In both 1965 and 1967 it was the black community that turned out in large numbers and then voted 97% for Stokes. He still lost in 1965 because the councilman and pastors disaffected some of the black vote but it was so close that in 1967 and with the blessing of the establishment he won----but by a very small margin. Again, it was the black turnout and overwhelming percentage of vote in his favor that carried the day.
How does Barack Obama’s campaign of 2007 differ from those two campaigns of long ago? He is running against the establishment (the Clinton machine) and there are black ”leaders” that are staying with the establishment. Polls are showing that many in the black community are saying the same things that they said in 1965-----it’s not time---he’s not ready---he will be killed if he is elected. Are these sentiments carried down through time going to defeat him in 2007?
Here is the reason that the campaigns are not alike. The white support for Obama is huge compared to the white support for Stokes forty years ago. Who would have dreamed then that a black man running for the President of the United States could garner such white support, attract such crowds, and be so close to winning. When I see campaign crowds, I see a sea of white faces cheering him and I see a much different time than that of 1965 & 1967.
Following is an example from the 1965 campaign. It shows how extraordinary the idea of a black mayor (there are now hundreds) was to the black community at that time.
The last weekend before the election we had a parade through the streets of the East Side of Cleveland. It wasn’t much of a parade, as parades go, a handful of cars with balloons and banners on the them, horns honking, people waving, and Carl and is wife sitting on the back of the last car. I was in the front seat. As the caravan pulled past the corner, there was a small boy about ten or eleven standing in the middle of a group of children. The cars had been going past honking with signs “Stokes for Mayor” on the sides. As the car with Stokes sitting on the back came to the corner the boy stood straight up, his eyes widened at the sight of Carl and he cried out, “HE’S COLORED.” He started to clap his hands and jump up and down. “HE’S COLORED, HE’S COLORED,” he cried out to no one in particular. “HE’S COLORED, HE’S COLORED” and he started to skip down the street after the car. I looked back as the cars picked up speed and left the little boy in the distance. He was still running and clapping his hands. I turned around to Carl and caught a very different expression on his face, part smile and part a distant look in his eyes. “I think it’s all been worthwhile,” I said. A quick but soft-spoken reply, “Yes, I think you’re right.” That’s how it was back then. A little boy thought, “this couldn’t be-----his parents and grandparents thought---could this possibly be? And a city and a nation wondered if history was in the making.
I sometimes wonder where that little boy is now, forty years later. What about his children and grandchildren? Does he remember how he felt that day? Does he remember the wonderment of seeing a black man siting on the top of a convertible, his skipping down the street in that wonderment of a black man striving for the impossible? How do his children and grandchildren feel today? Will they participate in today’s “impossible dream”?
Now, forty years later I see the crowds, more white than black, cheering a man of color. Now, forty years later, I see polls showing that this man of color could likely be the next President of the United States. I see now, forty years later, that dreams do come true-------and a little boy of so long ago could still clap, skip down the street and cry out----“He’s colored—He’s colored---- he’s colored”.
Will the black community support Obama as we Irish Catholics did for John Kennedy in 1960, as the Mormons will do for Mitt Romney this year, as every ethnic group has done for their history making candidates since the country began. It is the black vote that can insure victory for Barack Obama. This is the year. This is the time. This is history in the making.
The face of The United States of America is about to change.
Nice aircraft. I would love to be apart of that traveling press, even if it is coach.
Obama's team is not encouraging parallels between the candidate's upcoming visit to Germany and John F Kennedy's legendary Ich Bin Ein Berliner address in 1963. After all, one of the hoariest Republican attack lines deployed against Democratic opponents is that they are vaguely foreign, somehow more comfortable abroad, and therefore likely to put America's interests second – after those of their elitist friends in Europe. Remember the Republican nickname for the Democratic nominee of 2004? They called him "Jean Cherie".
The US media is assuming that we'll be turning out in massive numbers, all but throwing street parades for the new American saviour. Setting the bar high.
Obviously the Illinois senator will receive a warm reception and Team Obama firmly reminds us that this is ‘only’ a Congressional tour. Senator Obama already has booked interviews with network anchors and has a date to do "Meet the Press" from London next Sunday. The campaign announced at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning--but mid-day in Europe that Mr. Obama will deliver a speech on trans-Atlantic relations in Berlin on Thursday July 24th, outdoors in a park near the Brandenburg Gate.
The column’s 19th-century fluted structure towering the opposite end of a tree-lined boulevard from the Brandenburg Gate will highlight a modern, more enlightened Germany. Der Siegessäule is the Victory Column in Berlin and poised to be the beacon of unprecedented history.
Danke Berlin.
Now I like that plan. This is really really nice looking. GREAT JOB! OBAMA 08'
So, let's get this straight...a senator is flying around the world on a junket.
Where's the change?
congradulations fit for a presidential candidate.
God Bless America and God Bless President Obama!!!!
The media circus aspects are very disturbing to me, as the anchors are treating this trip as the Second Coming of Christ. (I guess that's appropriate, as Obama thinks of himself as the Messiah.)
So thank you, Lynn Sweet, for throwing an objective eye on things. (Would that other reporters do the same, but they don't seem to have the ability.)
I suggest that Senator Obama seek to curb the "imperial" aura exemplified by the seal and this aircraft. A clean paint job would be more becoming to a Democratic nominee. Too late to take that into consideration, hope he painters were well paid.
A new plane a new administration a new hope and beginning for this "great Nation" !!
God bless America and God bless Sen. Obama !!!!!
A new plane a new administration a new hope and beginning for this "great Nation" !!
God bless America and God bless Sen. Obama !!!!!
Let's hope they gave the reporters 35-inch seat pitch in coach instead of airline cattle-class 30 to 32 inch. We wouldn't want cranky journos covering the candidate, now, would we?
As Obama flies into the wild blue yonder in his
spiffed-up 757 well stocked with intelligence
and judgement, McCain reveals more inner workings of his feable mental state with a statement on live TV about the "Iraq/Pakistan
border."
The latest issue of Rolling Stone profiles Senator Obama and his campaign team. The article specifically described the interior of this 757 as one of all coach seating with no sectional divisions. Senator Obama was separated from the press by about a dozen rows of seats; he used a row for himself and his papers. I liked the symbolism of it. This expensive upgrade of the aircraft in the last few months of the campaign makes a different statement. On the heels of his disappointing vote on FISA, he seems to be moving to the more standard beltway position of electability. I hope not. I'll vote for him because I think John McCain is nuts. Still, in our hearts (if not our votes) we're a lot more progressive as a nation than our republican "leaders" would have us believe.
Hello,
Loved the bit about choice entree's.Baked Tilapis tops the bill.Obabma is as trully a son of the soil as can be .Tilapia is the favourite fish of his people the Luo.We are so proud Obama keep it real
'Fruit and cheese platters greeted the reporters on board the very pricey charter'.
So, what is your point? Would you have worded a McCain flight, 'pricey' or just cheese platters and fruit were on the charter? I'm sure the Obama campaign can afford it, which by the way did not have to be mentioned.
I read all of A. Huffington's reports - I think she is a super business woman and "tells it like it is". The articles were great and I read everything.A great journalist, author and reporter.
I think McCain is very, very "jealous" of the articulate, charasmatic, poised and brilliant opponent he faces in the election; namely Barack Obama. Never have I seen a candidate like Barack.
It is the first time I have seen a candidate like Barack since John F. Kennedy. I am so happy to see Caroline on the world stage again. helping Barack Obama and that she believes in his issues and , and it is so good to see a "Kennedy" in the presidential elections, helping. I think she would make a "super V.P." and would renew all the interests of our "young people" again and make them active in our government once more.
McCain/was second to the bottom in his Class/graduation from Annapolis, so how much does he give to America? Barack was at the top of his Class when he graduated as a lawyer at Harvard. Both he and his wife Michelle are lawyers, and just maybe ,if we had the Obama's in the White House, we wouldn't need so many "Hearings" as we have had over the last 7-1/2 years. People are "fed up with that garbage and the state of our Nation today. Would also be nice to have "little children" back in our White House also.
I must reveal what I read in my area newspaper, on the second page. It read (with black pictures of the White House) "Can we have a BLACK WHITE HOUSE" and in the next column it read: "Can we have a "BLACK CAMELOT"? I thought that was "the height of ridicule and that the days of "Racisim" were over. This is in Florida and I don't mind telling it - I saved the pictures and cptions. I was really upset. That paper should be shut down. A lot of the journalists write articles about Barack Obama and say don't vote for him. Well I am white, worked 41 years in old Chicago town, Barack & Michelle's home base, and I am so proud of them, I can't wait for November to come to vote for him. McCain didn't have a very good rep when he was young - a carouser and apparently didn't care about learning - you know how big the graduating class at Annapolis is. He ought to be ashamed of himself - now he's going around campaigning against Obama today, when he told him to go - senility????????????
George Bush had no resume until he was 40 due to drinking and carousing and he was elected to two terms or should I say "bought" by his vast "Right Wing Conservatives".
Also, I think Barack is the "greatest orator" since Patrick Henry (I just read about him) and he draws "Rock Crowds" like I have never seen in a politician. We need Barack Obama in the White House and I am convinced he will pick the smartest Cabinet in History and a Vice President that can step into his chair, God forbid, anything happens, and be "off and running the Country's business". This young Presidential nominee is a natural "genius" with an IQ that I bet surpasses all other candidates we ever had who were running for the White House. I've studied all of the candidates over the years.
I have NEVER seen a candidate who carried out his Campaign like Barack has run his campaigns.
It renews interest in Politics and our Great Country.
God Bless America and Barack Obama & Family. Let's all get out our vote and give Barack a chance at being our "Commander In Chief".
Thank You. Mary Jerome Gillette
I read all of A. Huffington's reports - I think she is a super business woman and "tells it like it is". The articles were great and I read everything.A great journalist, author and reporter.
I think McCain is very, very "jealous" of the articulate, charasmatic, poised and brilliant opponent he faces in the election; namely Barack Obama. Never have I seen a candidate like Barack.
It is the first time I have seen a candidate like Barack since John F. Kennedy. I am so happy to see Caroline on the world stage again. helping Barack Obama and that she believes in his issues and , and it is so good to see a "Kennedy" in the presidential elections, helping. I think she would make a "super V.P." and would renew all the interests of our "young people" again and make them active in our government once more.
McCain/was second to the bottom in his Class/graduation from Annapolis, so how much does he give to America? Barack was at the top of his Class when he graduated as a lawyer at Harvard. Both he and his wife Michelle are lawyers, and just maybe ,if we had the Obama's in the White House, we wouldn't need so many "Hearings" as we have had over the last 7-1/2 years. People are "fed up with that garbage and the state of our Nation today. Would also be nice to have "little children" back in our White House also.
I must reveal what I read in my area newspaper, on the second page. It read (with black pictures of the White House) "Can we have a BLACK WHITE HOUSE" and in the next column it read: "Can we have a "BLACK CAMELOT"? I thought that was "the height of ridicule and that the days of "Racisim" were over. This is in Florida and I don't mind telling it - I saved the pictures and cptions. I was really upset. That paper should be shut down. A lot of the journalists write articles about Barack Obama and say don't vote for him. Well I am white, worked 41 years in old Chicago town, Barack & Michelle's home base, and I am so proud of them, I can't wait for November to come to vote for him. McCain didn't have a very good rep when he was young - a carouser and apparently didn't care about learning - you know how big the graduating class at Annapolis is. He ought to be ashamed of himself - now he's going around campaigning against Obama today, when he told him to go - senility????????????
George Bush had no resume until he was 40 due to drinking and carousing and he was elected to two terms or should I say "bought" by his vast "Right Wing Conservatives".
Also, I think Barack is the "greatest orator" since Patrick Henry (I just read about him) and he draws "Rock Crowds" like I have never seen in a politician. We need Barack Obama in the White House and I am convinced he will pick the smartest Cabinet in History and a Vice President that can step into his chair, God forbid, anything happens, and be "off and running the Country's business". This young Presidential nominee is a natural "genius" with an IQ that I bet surpasses all other candidates we ever had who were running for the White House. I've studied all of the candidates over the years.
I have NEVER seen a candidate who carried out his Campaign like Barack has run his campaigns.
It renews interest in Politics and our Great Country.
God Bless America and Barack Obama & Family. Let's all get out our vote and give Barack a chance at being our "Commander In Chief".
Thank You. Mary Jerome Gillette
Barack's "Change We Can Believe In" airplane thrills me. I'm proud to be one of the older, white women who support this inspiring candidate. Although I am a retired teacher, I have never before contributed money to a presidential candidate, nor have I ever followed a campaign so closely. Barack Obama is our greatest hope to bring common sense back to our way of governing and to restore our position of leadership and hope in a very complex world.
try to be objective while following the Illinois Senator around, please.
Is the American flag displayed on "our" plane? ( Taxpayers are paying for the aircraft) UMMMM. Kinda scary....