Air Force One is plenty comfortable if you are its most privileged frequent flier, with a comfortable bedroom and a spacious office. Still, most US presidents will try to avoid making two back-to-back round trips to Europe, separated by about 60 hours on the ground at home. Yet that is what Prez Joe Biden is pulling off this week – for reasons few at the White House seem eager to discuss.
Biden left the US for D-Day celebrations in France last Wednesday, June 5, stayed the weekend for a state dinner in Paris, and returned to his home in Delaware late Sunday. He left Washington again early Wednesday, June 12, to fly to Italy for the annual gathering of the G7.
When Biden looks back at those two round trips – roughly a day and a half of flying, all told – he may remember only what happened in between: the conviction of his only living son, Hunter Biden, on charges of lying to obtain a gun permit.
But the two round trips beg the question: Why didn’t he just stay in Europe for a couple days? He is, after all, 81, and some of his aides who are half his age were complaining about lost sleep cycles.
The White House’s explanation for four trans-Atlantic crossings in nine days was simply that Biden had commitments in Washington. But by presidential standards, his public schedule looked light: a lunch with vice-president Kamala Harris and a speech to a gun-safety group. Hunter Biden’s trial also loomed over the planning, though it was impossible to know when these trips were planned that the case would go to the jury and a verdict would be rendered in the three days between the D-Day trip and the G7 meeting.
But privately, some aides said there were election-year optics to be considered. There was no urgent reason to stay in Europe, and a few down days “might not look right”, one of Biden’s advisers conceded. In any case, no one wanted images of the president on what his political opponents might cast as a European holiday, at least while he is running for re-election.
The presidency, of course, is the ultimate work-from-anywhere job. There are instant communications (a White House van, bristling with antennas, travels in every motorcade) and a staff of hundreds ready to cater to every contingency, whether that involves sending off a thank-you note or launching a retaliatory nuclear strike.
The intolerance for seeing presidents abroad, save for work, has a long history. Franklin D Roosevelt loved to camp at Campobello Island, in Canada, though as president he kept the visits brief. When Harry S Truman went to Potsdam, Germany, to negotiate with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill about what post-WWII Europe would look like, he stayed for more than two weeks. There were days off from the negotiations, but not for long, and the nearest big city, Berlin, was a bombed wreck. And there was a reminder of the risks of being out of town: Churchill’s party lost to Labour during the conference, and he got booted out of office while it was still going on.
Biden left the US for D-Day celebrations in France last Wednesday, June 5, stayed the weekend for a state dinner in Paris, and returned to his home in Delaware late Sunday. He left Washington again early Wednesday, June 12, to fly to Italy for the annual gathering of the G7.
When Biden looks back at those two round trips – roughly a day and a half of flying, all told – he may remember only what happened in between: the conviction of his only living son, Hunter Biden, on charges of lying to obtain a gun permit.
But the two round trips beg the question: Why didn’t he just stay in Europe for a couple days? He is, after all, 81, and some of his aides who are half his age were complaining about lost sleep cycles.
The White House’s explanation for four trans-Atlantic crossings in nine days was simply that Biden had commitments in Washington. But by presidential standards, his public schedule looked light: a lunch with vice-president Kamala Harris and a speech to a gun-safety group. Hunter Biden’s trial also loomed over the planning, though it was impossible to know when these trips were planned that the case would go to the jury and a verdict would be rendered in the three days between the D-Day trip and the G7 meeting.
But privately, some aides said there were election-year optics to be considered. There was no urgent reason to stay in Europe, and a few down days “might not look right”, one of Biden’s advisers conceded. In any case, no one wanted images of the president on what his political opponents might cast as a European holiday, at least while he is running for re-election.
The presidency, of course, is the ultimate work-from-anywhere job. There are instant communications (a White House van, bristling with antennas, travels in every motorcade) and a staff of hundreds ready to cater to every contingency, whether that involves sending off a thank-you note or launching a retaliatory nuclear strike.
The intolerance for seeing presidents abroad, save for work, has a long history. Franklin D Roosevelt loved to camp at Campobello Island, in Canada, though as president he kept the visits brief. When Harry S Truman went to Potsdam, Germany, to negotiate with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill about what post-WWII Europe would look like, he stayed for more than two weeks. There were days off from the negotiations, but not for long, and the nearest big city, Berlin, was a bombed wreck. And there was a reminder of the risks of being out of town: Churchill’s party lost to Labour during the conference, and he got booted out of office while it was still going on.