A[nother] New Day of Infamy

The last time an airliner flew so close to downtown Manhattan, it was “a New Day of Infamy” and “evil was unleashed upon the world.”

A New Day of Infamy

This time, irresponsibility of the worst kind was unleashed as the President's 747, Air Force One, in the company of a fighter jet escort, took a joyride down the Hudson River, zipped around the Statue of Liberty, and went on its merry way.

There was no warning to the people working in skyscrapers, and since there was no reason not to fear the worst, several buildings were evacuated. Lower Manhattan, you see, has learned to take the threat of wayward jets seriously.

Eventually, an excuse was disseminated through the national news media: it was a photo-op.

A what? The White House sends a 747 down the Hudson River with an F15 in tow and it’s a “photo-op?” For what?

Air Force One "buzzes" the Financial District

Anyone who’s ever been a parent, or who has ever been a child, knows an evasive answer when he hears it. “Junior, what were you doing tearing up the neighborhood in your car?” “Oh, ma, it was a photo-op.” Translation: “It was anything but a ‘photo-op,’ and don’t bother asking again.”

So it’s a safe bet that the American people, who own that jet and employ its staff, will never know for what purpose it was used on Monday, April 27, 2009, or why our peace was disturbed with such disregard for the eerie likeness it had to that morning on the New Day of Infamy, when evil was unleashed upon the world.

Whatever the truth is, it was a ridiculously irresponsible thing to do. We trust we aren’t the only ones left with an uneasy feeling in the gut when attempting to comprehend the depth of the void of sense in the highest office in the land that could have resulted in such a careless, irresponsible prank.

We can’t get the image of the President of the United States in his Panama Jack hat, smoking a joint, surrounded by floozies, taking the American people’s nice big jet out for the ultimate joyride. Even that's more plausible than a "photo-op." After all, Bill Clinton had his oval office, his cigar and his intern. Why should Obama be outdone?