My parents, grandma and myself got on the bus to Terminal 2 after returning our sedan to the Hertz rental company. The bus driver informed us that we were being delayed because the president was coming back from the Grand Canyon so the airport was locked up for security reasons.
The first think I heard from my mom was "what a jerk, what's he doing here?" Now, you have to know my mom to understand this statement. This statement is nothing close to political, in fact, it is a lot more selfish than that. This statement actually translates into, "dammit, I don't wanna have to wait here," of which, I call her out on and say "the only reason you're saying that is because it's inconveniencing you ," all of which, I might add, for an additional 10 minutes. Really, we don't need to be anywhere 10 minutes faster than we are currently already traveling.
Aside from her I hear another few grumbles about the delay and figure it's the same thing as my mom. However, there is one woman that takes it further and questions how he's reforming health care by going to the Grand Canyon and brings up some point that we're paying for his little vacation and "what's he doing?"
I'm not a political person. I, actually, am the least politically versed member of all my friends; but for one thing, this was why our president was in the area and while he was here he took a trip to the Grand Canyon with his family. I just wonder why, though, we spend so much time carefully scrutinizing every move President Obama makes in his personal life. It's not even as if he's doing anything scandalous like former president Clinton. Have we been a nation so engrossed by gossip that it has moved beyond our Hollywood stars and begun intermingling with our politics?
I digress. What really annoys me, more than this woman ignorantly yelling her political views on health reform or the continual decline of our nations' news venues to the point where they've all become mere gossip rags, is the general attitude.
I feel old or ignorant in saying this; but I seem to remember a time when people were excited when their president was within a 5 mile radius of them. I feel as though our nation has been engulfed by some sort of cynicism and I'm bothered by it. I'd like to think that even when George W. Bush was president, if he was in the area, I would have been at least remotely excited by the fact that the president of my country was around.
Part of this also brings me back to graduation when I heard that a college had President Obama as a speaker for their commencement ceremony but a lot of people protested because he was pro choice. (My response to which was "well shit, fuck you guys then, we'll take him,".)
Honestly, he's the president, can't we just have a little respect?
As we pass Air Force One the bus driver points it out and everyone, especially the ones grumbling before whip out their cameras and start clicking away (with the exception of my mother, she actually doesn't care about anything.)
I speak to my brother about it upon my arrival back home and he reminds me of something I should have known already; "people just like to complain,".
Anyway, here's a picture that my dad took. It's not great but you can see the plane in the back.
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