Obama Still An Outsider

Just after Christmas, unnamed sources in the Obama White House indicated that the President’s re-election campaign headquarters would likely be based in Chicago.  This is a break with most modern Presidents, which have established their re-election operations between the beltways.

The Windy City re-election headquarters would symbolically show Obama-atons that their candidate is still an outsider railing against the machine.  But based on reports from The Washington Examiner, Obama need not center his campaign HQ in Chicago to be a Washington outsider.

In his first two years in office, Mr. Obama has spent nearly half of his presidency outside of Washington.  According to CBS’s Mark Knoller, Obama has spent 339 out of his 712 days in office outside of Washington.  That means that America’s 44th President has spent almost 48% of his term outside of Washington.  This figure includes 58 days on vacation, 38 days at Camp David, 176 days doing domestic travel and 70 days abroad.  Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett has indicated that Mr. Obama will spend more time on the road engaging the American people.  TOTUS travels well.

With a new Congress convening, President Obama ought to spend some time working with  Congressional leaders of both parties if he intends to pass any further legislation and retain the gains that the Obama Administration has achieved, or else he may find himself a real outsider quicker than expected.