Should President Obama move to Camp David?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I don’t remember another administration in the White House having so many attacks, not from the media, but from people attacking across the lawn and in the skies.

In my humble opinion I think it’s time to get the President and his family out of the White House and over to a safer area like Camp David.

A school bus full of terrorist disguised as cheerleaders from Ohio could overpower the Secret Service and the DC police.

They probably couldn’t get to the president or the second floor of the White House, but a blemish on our country it would bring.

I think we need to protect not only this president, but the next president by moving the white house, where the president does his daily business, to a safer location.

Times of trouble are brewing more rapidly than in previous years.

A move would be wise in my opinion.

2

So they wouldn’t come close and you would still deny us this??? Turn in your “Mr” to the closest Man Headquarters.

3

Christ, then anyone who needs to meet wth the President has to get on a helicopter for an hour to fly to Camp David?

Just install taller fences and we can all move on with our lives.

4

Eh? I don’t think Obama has really suffered any more or fewer attempts than any other recent Prez. There’s always a few attempts every term, usually by people who have too many screws loose to be much of a threat (though occasionally they still manage despite their mental problems, as John Hinkly nearly did).

And for all their recent foibles, the SS seems to have stopped any would be Oswald’s before they’ve gotten anywhere close to the Prez. If anything, I suspect having the WH as a centralized location for such people to make their attempts makes them less of a danger than if they had to wait and try something at a public event or speech.

5

You are worried about blemishes on your country through a failed attack, but you aren’t worried about the blemish it would bring on your country to be the most powerful country in the world yet one that has to hide its leader away at a safe house?

I can hear Putin laughing manly laughter at you from here.

6

You might have a career as a skit writer for SNL. Predicting actual events in the real world-- don’t give up your day job!

7

But President Obama could laugh back by being smarter than Putin.
He has his own problems.

8

He isn’t the first President to live in danger and he won’t be the last. And in terms of personal courage he comes close to the top of my personal list of POTUSes. I vote for him staying put.

9

Hiding out in the country at Versailles away from the plebes at the capital worked so well for French kings.

10

Well *they *didn’t have Skype.

11

Clark Kent: You’re going to attack the White House?

Batman: It’s just another house, Clark. A few more alarms, a few more guards.

12

At least in the White House the president and first family are forced everyday to interact with normal citizens. Consider that 10,000 people a day visit the White House, the president is going to have to see a few now and then. Plus anytime he looks out the window he will see people.

13

I think it would be cool if the president and first lady would be chilling on the Red Room furniture reading newspapers and casually wave at the tourists as they pass through.

14

If I’m ever Prez, once a year whenever a slow day comes up, I’m just going to silently go outside and spend the day taking the place of the cardboard cutout of myself they stick outside the fence for tourists to take pictures with.

15

Apparently it’s a 30-minute helicopter ride to Camp David from the White House.

Which seems a bit long to me, seeing that it’s only about an hour’s drive (in a Presidential motorcade where you can skip all the lights, go as fast as you want, and traffic parts for you like the Red Sea), but I guess you don’t need to “land” a car.

16

Despite some idiot lapses in perimeter security, I suspect the White House is one of the most secure buildings in the world. I’d bet that the first family could survive even a surprise high-speed missile attack from the shore or the Potomac.

(Assuming the Secret Service team on duty isn’t too hungover or busy scratching their rashy dicks and thinking about Brazilian hookers.)

17

So, there’s been a few poorly thought out rage attacks.

A guy fired a few rounds in the general direction of the white house. A guy hopped a fence. A guy crashed a small drone.

None of those attacks had even the possibility of harming the President. (even the guy firing rounds didn’t use a bullet had the potential of going through the armor the white house must have. I mean, I don’t know what the glass and walls can take, obviously that isn’t public, but it can’t be any weaker than ordinary armored cars which can take assault rifle intermediate caliber rounds)

You might have a point if a serious attempt that might work were made, or people were caught with the materials and plans for one. That hasn’t yet happened.

What would be an attack that would be a serious attempt?

There are extremely high caliber weapons, not publicly available without special licenses, that might go through the protective armor. (20mm+ armor piercing ammo). The bad guys could build a massive IED that uses explosively formed projectiles, similar to the ones that killed tanks in Iraq. At least once, someone has shaken hands with the president who wasn’t on the guest list - maybe the bad guys could have used an implanted bomb. The bad guys could try hijacking an airliner again. All these things would probably fail, but it’s at least possible the bad guys would get lucky.

The thing is, if you think about it, all these attacks that could potentially harm the President have something in common. They would all require extensive planning, resources, and money. Any person with access to those things might rationally say “wait a moment. I want to harm the President because I don’t like his politics. If he actually dies, then won’t there be a backlash where Congress and the general public elect someone just like the President was in his memory?”

Or, alternatively, “I think the current President is a fool. So let’s put that Joe Biden/Dick Cheney/Al Gore guy in charge instead. That’ll put the country on the right track. Oh, wait…”

That’s the real defense against assassination. As long as the vice president is significantly less popular and competent than the President, there’s no rational reason to harm him.

So you only have the nuts. Firing a few rounds in the general direction of the building or crashing a small plane with no bomb on it into the white house (this happened during the Clinton administration) isn’t going to harm a hair on the big man’s head.

18

I was on your side till you brought up the personality problem, but you did say:

I’ve often thought if just a hand full of people here on Straight Dope alone could come up with some super duper terrorist attacks then so can the enemy.

Perhaps our country really is covered by the grace of God in it’s fore fathers, but these nuts have put out the call to attack innocent Americans in America and even gone so far as to put out names of our military personnel along with their address.

Perhaps it’s too soon to be worried about a massive drone attack or an innocent looking school bus with rounds of RPG’s and set to explode making a big hole in front of the White House.

Maybe these bad guys will just give up and go back to farming, but I don’t think so.

19

Camp David or the White House? Really what is the difference because they would both have their security benefits and liabilities?

And isnt that helicopter vulnerable to the right kind of anti air missiles?

20

#1, The White House is perfectly safe against any sort of attack that is at all likely to happen.

#2, If you REALLY want “safer,” then forget about Camp David – move the President to Cheyenne Mountain.