In Interview, Obama Pressed On Taking So Many Vacations While Americans Suffer

During an interview with KMOV of St. Louis, President Obama gets questioned on taking so many vacations at tax payer expense

◼ Who foots bill when Obama travels? Answer gets murky on combined campaign-official trips - Susan Crabtree/Washington Times

When President Obama traveled to Florida this week, he sandwiched a partisan speech at Florida Atlantic University between two multimillion-dollar fundraisers for his 2012 campaign, allowing him to label at least part of the trip to a critical battleground state as official business.

While Mr. Obama can rely on Air Force One and other military aircraft at his disposal for official business, federal election laws require his campaign to pay for these presidential perquisites at just a fraction of the cost — the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket — whenever he or other administration officials are using federal government resources for political activity....

A search of Obama campaign Federal Election Commission reports turned up less than $5,500 in payments last year to the U.S. Treasury — and those payments did not list the purpose behind them....

As of March 6, Mr. Obama has participated in 191 fundraisers, already topping the re-election cycle totals of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who held 167 and 173 fundraisers, respectively, according to Mr. Doherty, who has been tracking figures for an upcoming book, “Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign.”

In addition, Mr. Obama has deployed Cabinet members and senior aides across the country in aggressive and unprecedented ways. The officials will appear as surrogates at so-called “super PAC” events, as well as campaign and party events. The campaign’s “Speaker Series” programs sells time with White House advisers and Cabinet officials. For $5,000, supporters can buy a “season pass” to see officials when they come to town.