# Next time just take a taxi, Mr. President **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552 "2010-08-17T18:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/41 "2010-08-20T02:33:33Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He can’t just “take a cab”, like he can’t go to MacDonald’s and snag a burger and fries on the spur of the moment. He can go snag a [decent burger](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/obama-five-guys-visit-ord_n_209155.html), though. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/42 "2010-08-20T02:39:20Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Announcing in advance raises possible security risks. An evil terrorist type would be pleased to find out exactly what route POTUS would be taking in advance, for logistical purposes and such. This. All it takes is one loony and here we go again. It’s all about security. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/43 "2010-08-20T05:07:52Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I believe I have an answer to why they don’t swap National and Andrews: the runways at National aren’t long enough for the 747s that serve as Air Force One. 757s are the largest plane that can use National. I remember watching them from my office window in Crystal City. The 757s would use most of the runway to take off, then need to ascend at a _very_ steep angle. I strolled in here just to be the smartass with the dorky answer. The maximum takeoff weight for Air Force One is listed at around 830,000 lbs. At MTOW on a _normal, average_ day, that plane would need about a 9,500 ft runway to takeoff. DCA falls well short at about 6,800 feet. ---
**Author:** ![BG43214\_YAHOO.COM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@BG43214\_YAHOO.COM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BG43214_YAHOO.COM)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/44 "2010-08-20T14:45:30Z")
WAAAAAAAA! What a bunch of babies!!! so the Prez makes you late or whatever…why not just think of it as the small price we pay for our democracy??? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/45 "2010-08-20T14:51:38Z")
> [@BG43214\_YAHOO.COM](#): > > WAAAAAAAA! > > What a bunch of babies!!! so the Prez makes you late or whatever…why not just think of it as the small price we pay for our democracy??? It’s like NIMBY. All the inconveniences are supposed to happen to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/46 "2010-08-20T23:36:54Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > > [@BrightNShiny](#): > > > > Eh, if he has to do a fundraiser, he should fly into Burbank and do it in La Canada Flintridge or something, so the rest of us can get to work. Or he should do it on a weekend or holiday. > > > > Not him, specifically. I just live near LAX, so I always get annoyed when VIPs are in town (or political party conventions or WTO meetings or…) > > Screw that. I work across the street from the burbank airport. Let them come into ontario. Ok, fine. Isn’t there a base up in Antelope Valley? That seems like a win for everyone. He could fly in there, which wouldn’t tie up traffic in LA. Antelope Valley could probably do with the additional revenue brought in by people coming to the fund raiser and the security detail. And the political donors only have to drive an hour or so to see him. That’s where he should have gone. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/47 "2010-08-20T23:55:04Z")
Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/48 "2010-08-21T02:48:00Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > [QUOTE=treis] > That’s ridiculous. If the Prez says, I feel like taking a cab today, what is the SS going to do, arrest him? As a practical matter, the Prez defers to the SS, but there’s no law or anything else saying that he has to. DtC is right…they do tell the President what he can and can’t do. And while they wouldn’t arrest him, they would basically make it impossible for him to take a cab, even if he ordered it. Why anyone would want that job is and always has been beyond me. I doubt he had much choice or even input into the decisions that blocked that traffic the OP is complaining about. FWIW, I sympathize…I used to work in DC and it was a frequent occurrence to have traffic issues (especially on the SP). -XT [/QUOTE] So is the SS like a fourth branch of government? I thought they were under the Department of Homeland Security, which is an executive branch department, and the executive branch is headed by the President. On 9/11, didn’t Bush overrule the SS when they wanted to take him to NORAD? He said let’s go back to Washington. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/49 "2010-08-21T03:58:49Z")
Back in October 2001 (or possibly it was 2002), President Bush visited Sacramento. Large parts of downtown were closed to traffic for the better part of the day, including the area around our son’s daycare (he was 3 at the time). This would have been inconvenient on the best of days, but this happened to be the day that the daycare was supposed to be taking a field trip to the pumpkin patch. After some discussion, it was decided that the children did not pose a credible threat to the President. They opened the barricades and allowed the children down the already cleared street to go on their field trip (though they told that under no circumstances would they be allowed to return to the school until after 2 PM, when the President’s motorcade would have cleared the area). Apparently the Secret Service is nothing compared to a half dozen moms of 3 and 4 year olds… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/50 "2010-08-21T16:57:40Z")
> [@BG43214\_YAHOO.COM](#): > > …why not just think of it as the small price we pay for our democracy??? It’s not about democracy and it’s not about the Secret Service–nor is it about adequate security. It’s about the L.A.P.D. over-reacting, or more likely, just not having the consideration to think the thing through. They _ **do** _ have the capacity to plan a route that would be more logical and less disruptive. But, no, they want the motorcade to take the glamor route, and the fundraiser just has to be in Hancock Park–far from any freeway. This is Los Angeles, not Mayberry RFD. As a former L.A. taxi driver, I could have applied strategy and forethought to make the whole thing work much better. I would have told the prez to keep a low profile, as we wound are way through the La Tijera overpass. Wilshire? Pshaw! Why would anyone take Wilshire to get from the airport to Hancock Park? We might have taken Hauser or Rimpau, or just to throw the terrorists for a loop, taken a detour through Koreatown (with the meter off, of course) and stopped for some bip bim bob. (Sub shop? Ho hum.) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552/51 "2010-09-01T12:44:06Z")
> [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > > [@AWB](#): > > > > I believe I have an answer to why they don’t swap National and Andrews: the runways at National aren’t long enough for the 747s that serve as Air Force One. 757s are the largest plane that can use National. I remember watching them from my office window in Crystal City. The 757s would use most of the runway to take off, then need to ascend at a _very_ steep angle. > > I strolled in here just to be the smartass with the dorky answer. The maximum takeoff weight for Air Force One is listed at around 830,000 lbs. At MTOW on a _normal, average_ day, that plane would need about a 9,500 ft runway to takeoff. DCA falls well short at about 6,800 feet. Wow! More than a mile and a half! I’ve only ridden a 747 once, and didn’t take notice of how long it took to take off. Are 747s and other planes about that size used that much within the US anymore? Seems like most airport concourses are about the height of typical airbusses, and would need a special ramp or a 1960s-style ladder ramp to service a 747. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-time-just-take-a-taxi-mr-president/550552.md?page=2)