When President Barack Obama announced he was canceling all public tours of the White House, I thought it must be because Organizing for America, his permanent campaign committee, had overbooked its $500,000 a ticket meet-and-greets with the president.
When you have a choice between a worship session with fat cats and a chance encounter with some tourist from West Texas, the rednecks have got to go.
Turns out that wasn’t the case at all. The White House is scrubbing the tours during what it admits is “the popular Spring touring season” because Obama did not get his way on the sequester.
It’s part and parcel of Obama’s government-by-tantrum where air travelers are threatened with three-hour delays, 3,000 illegal aliens are released from jail, aircraft carriers are not refueled, meat isn’t inspected and, as The Wall Street Journal writes, “eighth graders visiting from Illinois” are punished by the administration.
My father’s administration put a priority on policies designed to improve our nation. As a result, Ronald Reagan was often viewed as larger than life and a leader who embodied the word presidential.
That does not appear to be the case in the Obama White House. Instead this administration seems to take pride in policies that make Obama look petty, mean, and vindictive.
Let's contrast the situation with the White House tours. The president cancels tours that are the high point for many who travel from the 50 states to visit Washington. These spring break trips are usually scheduled months in advance and this last-minute cancellation will ruin many field trips.
But while taxpayers are shown the door, the super rich can still buy their way into the White House by donating half a million dollars to Organizing for America.
During my father’s administration, Nancy Reagan asked for donations, too. But the money was not to buy access to the president or fatten the coffers of his campaign. Instead Nancy used the money to refurbish a tired and worn White House interior. She worked to make the White House reflect the greatness of our nation and she did it without banning tourists or costing the taxpayers a single dime.
As I wrote earlier this week, the longer the sequester lasts without the public seeing any real difference in government, the stronger the case becomes for more cuts in the future. This is a disaster for the spendacrats in the Obama administration.
This can only feed an increasing sense of desperation in the White House. They started by delaying air travel and now it’s down to banning junior high students. Obama doesn’t strike me as someone who is personally willing to suffer any discomfort, but maybe he will use an executive order to designate a group of orphans to go on a hunger strike until those Republican meanies agree to start spending again.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan. He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Click Here Now.