Air Force One charm offensive takes off
One of the least back-slapping presidents in recent memory may have finally found a way to bond with lawmakers â by treating them to the most exclusive upgrade in air travel. Since his party took brutal losses in the November elections, President Barack Obama has invited nearly 20 members of Congress to fly with him on Air Force One to state visits in India and Saudi Arabia, to Tennessee for the announcement of his free community college initiative, and to Nevada to promote his latest sweeping moves on immigration. Story Continued Below Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander used last monthâs flight to his home state of Tennessee to bend the presidentâs ear on changes to No Child Left Behind. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was flying on Air Force One to Saudi Arabia when she cajoled Obama into killing his plan to tax college savings plans. And this kind of airborne presidential face time is happening more and more, part of a White House schmooze offensive aimed at both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. While lawmakers have flown on the presidentâs Boeing 747 throughout his presidency, the White House says the focus on the flights has increased since the midterms. The directive came from Obama himself, a White House official said. Even when no major decisions come from the airborne jaunts, lawmakers say they yield dividends. âIâm not one of those kind of guys needing to shoot the breeze, or needing to be felt important,â said Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who joined Obama for the recent trip with Alexander. âThatâs not something that is necessary, but when itâs appropriate we can have a conversation on a trip like that.â Republicans havenât always been so willing to ride along with the president. No Republican congressmen flew with Obama on the plane from September 2011 until February 2013, as POLITICO has previously reported. And the 2013 trip brought some conservative flak for Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), who flew with Obama to an appearance in Newport News where the president criticized the sequestration budget cuts â prompting anti-tax activist Grover Norquist to slam Rigell as a âvery cheap date.â But now Republicans are openly willing to talk about how they are using the time on the plane with Obama. âIt gave me an opportunity to talk to him about our major objectives for our committee, which are to fix No Child Left Behind, deregulate higher education and precision medicine,â Alexander said after the January trek to Knoxville. The trip led to âfurther conversationsâ with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, said Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Using the worldâs most famous plane to build relationships with lawmakers is a shift for Obama, who is not known as a schmoozer. Democrats and Republicans alike have long complained that they donât get invited enough to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and that Obama rarely calls unless he needs something. For Obama, the often hourslong flights offer a rare opportunity to get to know lawmakers in a more relaxed environment, where reporters arenât in the room â and where the planeâs confines offer no escape. But now, with Congress under total GOP control, Obama is going to need new allies as he looks to cut deals with Republicans and get Democrats on board for issues like trade. So far, Congress and the president have gotten off to a rocky start this year, with the White House issuing a flurry of veto threats while Republicans push for the Keystone XL pipeline and try to undercut his immigration policies. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has also ridden with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, called it a âpositiveâ step that Obama is looking to include more lawmakers on Air Force One trips. The Michigan Democrat helped organize a delegation of lawmakers to attend an event where Obama promoted passage of the farm bill in 2014. âItâs always good, because weâre all rushing around, to have a little bit of extra time to actually relax and talk in a more informal way,â Stabenow said. The travel initiative is so important that Obama has deputized White House legislative affairs director Katie Fallon as the point person. âThe president believes engaging members of Congress in the course of travel around the country can be helpful, especially when working on shared goals like immigration reform and making college more accessible for all Americans, or visiting our allies in travels around the world,â White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. In January, Obama invited Alexander, Corker and Republican Tennessee Rep. John Duncan to join him in Knoxville for the announcement of his proposal to offer students two free years of community college, along with the launch of a manufacturing hub. During the trip, Obama came to the back of the plane and lunched with the lawmakers. Most recently, four Democrats â Pelosi, California Rep. Ami Bera, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and New York Rep. Joe Crowley â flew with Obama to India and Saudi Arabia, where he offered condolences for the death of King Abdullah. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) also joined the delegation after flying separately. It was during the India-to-Saudi leg of the trip that Pelosi successfully lobbied Obama to scuttle his proposal to tax the college savings plans known as 529s. But the trip also included more informal discussions. Bera, the only Indian-American in Congress, said Obama came to the back of the plane multiple times to talk with the lawmakers. âHe was very relaxed,â Bera said. âWe talked about the trip, what the goals for the trip were. â¦ It gives him an opportunity to get to know members as Congress as well.â Still, the president hasnât been shy about using the power of the plane for a partisan victory lap. He shuttled eight Democratic lawmakers and other advocates to Las Vegas in November to preview his newest executive actions on immigration, which include steps to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Dina Titus from the Nevada delegation were joined by Pelosi and immigration reform proponents Reps. Ben Ray LujÃ¡n of New Mexico and Xavier Becerra of California. Then-Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, who had just lost his reelection bid, was also part of the delegation. The experience wasnât lost on Titus, who talked with Obama about how it would affect her district. âThe president came back and talked to us several times during the flight, and then when you get there and you walk off itâs just kind of a thrill and itâs very nice because people at home seeing you doing that,â Titus said. âThey share your excitement.â