Critics on the Left decry President's taxpayer funded travels and fundraising?

AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

On the heels of President Obama's taxpayer funded campaigning spree in Las Vegas, the President and First Lady went all out this weekend-- literally-- on a spectacular date night in NYC.

For their date night this past Saturday, the first couple flew on a C-20 (G3), the press pool's flight was in a separate plane, and staff followed in a third plane (G3). Air Force one landed at Kennedy Airport, after which, Marine One flew them over the Brooklyn Bridge to Lower Manhattan. It was dinner and a show for President and Mrs. Obama.

"President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama landed in New York Saturday afternoon, and after taking a helicopter from JFK into Manhattan, drove up the West Side Highway, where the northbound lanes were shut down by police for their visit, past Ground Zero, into the Village for dinner at the Village's Blue Hill restaurant. From there, they went north to Times Square, where they went to see a production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" at the Belasco Theater on West 44 Street." Politico

While President Obama “has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history“, the White House would not disclose how much the night-on-the-town in Manhattan was costing U.S. taxpayers.

Last week President Obama was in Las Vegas fundraising for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and then he was off to Hollywood for two more Democrat Party fundraisers.

Wolf Blitzer of CNN questioned who pays when the President goes to a fundraiser... is it the American taxpayer?

The fact that a President's high-priced excursions incur excessive expenses for taxpayers has caused some outrage among concerned Americans:

"(he) spends our tax dollars for whatever he wants. He gives it to whomever he chooses. The US Treasury is his own personal ATM machine. We give and he takes. Period."

"He burns thousands of gallons of fuel, tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, to do something he could do over the phone.
Pure waste. Something a 5 year old wouldn't do - and where is the outrage? Oh, thats right, the news networks are owned by corporations, and we all know they're in charge now."

"The 2 pilots and navigator are Air Force, so they don't get paid the same as commercial pilots, but it adds up. The cost to the taxpayers of the fund raising trip would be around $20K, by my estimation."

And finally--- there is the lone voice of dissension exposing the truth:

"Look, I hate our tax money being wasted as much as the next guy. But let's not fool ourselves. If in four or eight years President Obama, or President Clinton, goes and campaigns for our party's nominee will we write blogs post titled Taxpayers pay for Obama/Clinton to attended X's fundraiser. Let's keep these posts about the issues, not campaign event. That is unless we start applying the same standard to ourselves."

Yes folks, the previous criticisms, including Blitzer's inquiry, were actually aimed at President Bush back in May of 2008 and were responses to an article post at Think Progress entitled: Taxpayers pay for Bush to attend McCain fundraiser.

One other commenter added "Can't wait for January 2009"-- presumably the year of "change". Indeed, it is change in at least one basic sense: it's no longer about President Bush.