BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN – KAILUA, Hawaii – The now familiar signs that President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia and First Dog Bo will be arriving in Hawaii for Christmas are appearing in the close knit beachside community on Oahu’s windward side.
Coast Guard officials have contacted boat owners in the area to remind them the canal and popular surf spot fronting the private beachfront homes where the President will vacation beginning Friday are off limits for 17 days. The Coast Guard also has released information on the temporary security zone that will be enforced from 6 a.m. on Friday to 10 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2014.
Black SUVs and government issued vans are parked along the street fronting homes now occupied by the U.S. Secret Service, Navy SEALs and Coast Guard.
By the time the President arrives, concrete blockades and security will bar direct entrance to Kailuana Place where the President stays. Coast Guard on armed boats will patrol the canal and ocean. All airlines will be barred from flying over the island.
The First Family has spent every Christmas since the President was first elected in 2008 in Kailua, a community built around stunning white sands and turquoise seas of Kailua beach that boasts fiery sunrises over the Mokulua Islands.
The First Family is a two-minute drive from Kaneohe Bay and the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where they can access private beaches, a military gym and bowling alley, and five minutes from a variety of restaurants, stores and water sports rental shops in quaint Kailua town.
Obama is popular in Hawaii, however, there are people critical of the cost to taxpayers and the inconvenience the President’s presence causes.
The President and his friends pay for the private home accommodations that rent for $25,000 per week, however taxpayers – both federal and county – pick up the majority of the bill for the rest of the trip.
Michael Tasselmyer of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, estimates the 18-hour roundtrip aboard Air Force One, which he said costs $179,750 per hour for flight and operation, will total $3,235,500 for the roundtrip. A Congressional Research Service report released in May 2012 matches that figure.
There are reports the President might also stop on the island of Maui, a 30-minute flight from Oahu, which would add additional expense.
The cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment to Hawaii has never been disclosed, but the roundtrip flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is 21.5 hours, with estimated operating cost of $12,000 per hour. (Source: GAO report, updated by C-17 crew member).
The U.S. Marine Corps provides a presidential helicopter, along with pilots and support crews for the test flights, which travel on another C-17 flight. That is $258,000, not including costs for the 4-to-6-member crew’s per diem and hotel.
U.S. Secret Service, Navy Seals and Coast Guard rent homes along the canal and ocean for $250 per room per night, according to residents renting their homes. Real estate source said the delegation rents at least 7 homes in the area, and arrive ahead of the President, costing taxpayers more than $183,750 for the length of the visit.
White House staff who do not stay in Kailua secure hotel rooms at the posh Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa on Waikiki Beach. Hotel rooms typically rent for $670 a night, but the hotel offers discounted government rates for about $255 per night, according to hotel public relations manager Diana Su. The hotel does not disclose information about The White House visit. However, estimating prices for room, as well as Transient Accommodation Tax and General Excise Tax, for about two dozen staff, totals more than $100,000.
The President is accompanied by 22 vehicles, whether he goes golfing and to a basketball game with friends at his Punahou alma mater or to body surf at Sandy Beach and local favorite restaurants such as Nobu’s and Buzz’s Steakhouse.
Honolulu Police are on special duty, paid $250,000 by city taxpayers, and another $10,000 is spent on around-the-clock ambulance detail.
There are several costs the White House annually refuses to release, citing security.
- For example, The White House rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the President’s stay
- Security upgrades, such as bulletproof glass, and additional phone lines, are added to private homes, while existing security systems are disabled.
- Rental cars and fuel for staff and security, as well as additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President, are kept secret.
The White House has not released expenses, citing security concerns. However, the most conservative estimate, based on what is known, for a 17-day vacation in Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is more than $4 million.
Last year, because of emergency budget negotiations, the President made two roundtrips from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii, nearly doubling the cost of the vacation to more than $7.2 million.
Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Secret Service on May 6 to “obtain records concerning use of U.S. Government funds to provide security and any other services to President Obama and any companions on their January 1 and 2, 2013, trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.”
Judicial Watch Spokeswoman Jill Farrell said this week there has been no additional action on the case, Judicial Watch v. U.S. Secret Service.
The lawsuit was filed after the Secret Service did not provide information to Judicial Watch in response to a January 2, 2013, FOIA request.
“As of May 6, the Secret Service had yet to produce any record,” Judicial Watch said in a May 2013 statement.
$4 million for this dofus and his family to take a 17 day vacation, and millions who can't afford his disasterous healthcare.
He started right out living like a dictator; it only gets worse.
I never trusted the government or politicians in general…ever since I could think independently. This, however, has got to be the WORST president we have ever had! He takes $4 million vacations and thinks nothing of the fact that there are still MILLIONS of people who are unemployed or under employed; we have the HIGHEST food stamp ever applied for; people are going crazy just to make ends meet –and this 'Baffoon and his family" are so OUT OF TOUCH with the American people and state of affairs of our whole wide world – that he is not even cogniscent that it is not even 'politically correct' when there are homeless in the streets of a great nation like America. Shame on their ego's being so high and their compassion this time of year towards those in need. I am an advocate for the poor and those who cannot voice their dis-satisfaction themselves. I hope you enjoy your $4 million dollar citizen paid vacation while others sleep in the cold streets Christmas Eve.
He plays it up like he cares. The way he talks one would think he is the only politician to ever care for citizens. His actions speak louder than his twisted daily lies. It confounds me that some of my fellow citizens refuse to see this.
Must be nice. While I and my wife freeze and work our butts off, with no real Christmas going to happen because we can't afford it or have the time to enjoy it, this usurper and his tribe get to bask in the warmth and beauty on the taxpayer dime.
When he gets back, I hope the SHTF and they are right in the middle of it, left to wallow in the ashes created by anger so powerful it reduces DC to dust. I'd say to hell with every one of those goddamn jackholes in DC but that is too good for them.
Oh goody wait for the mess Kailua, after all he is your favorite son right??
Presidents have a vacation spot it is called Camp David. Beyond that everything should be on the President's bill not OURS. If he want to go to Hawaii then let him take a Military hop to the big Island. As far as his entourage goes, well there are several Military Policemen who are capable of guarding the CNC. Let him stay in VIP quarters at Pearl Harbor.
Where's a sunami when you need one…
How I hate and loathe this festering maggot and his grafter family. I wish there was a way to change the locks on the White House.
HURRY JAN 2017! President Cruz and Veep Bongino can take over and we have ADULTS back in DC.
And Hawaii can take back their garbage.
If only we could count on him leaving the scene. Don't count on it. Like his Democrat predecessors, he will continue to be in the limelight and will be doing everything in his power to bring down a non-Democrat successor. The slime-media will forget all of his transgressions and ineptitude and will fawn on his views. They will continue to lick his boots. Meanwhile the successor will be under a neutron microscope and be criticized for using to much toilet tissue, while poor Americans go tissue-less.
I remember when the Media use to count every day Bush spent at his ranch in Texas as a vacation regardless if he received guests there and conducted official business there. Obama can spend millions on vacations multiple times a year, and suddenly he deserves it more then any other President before him, even when the economy is failing.
Huh?? https://archives.politicususa.com/2011/12/23/cost-…
Please stay in Hawaii and don't come back to the mainland – WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!
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