To save money for kids, let's have Obama fly commercial.

When Abraham Lincoln came to Washington he took a train. In fact, most of our Presidents travelled by commercial carrier or rode in their private vehicles. Only since FDR has the President travelled in taxpayer paid luxury. And the cost of that travel has become exorbitant. The cost of flying Air Force One is estimated to range between $60,000 to $181,000 dollars per hour. And that does not include the cost of the Air Force fighter jets that trail the plane, the second Air Force One that acts as a decoy, the limousines that precede the Presidential entourage and the hordes of hangers-on the accompany the President on his travels. Today, the President travels like an oriental potentate, except more expensively.

Just think of the number of college scholarships and food inspection programs this nation could fund if it had the moral courage to make the president fly first-class commercial on international long hauls, take Amtrak for shorter trips, and use Skype for critical one-on-one negotiations.

When are we going to have the first White House correspondent as Obama about the most expensive corporate jet in the universe when he goes on about the puny corporate jets that executives use? Let’s ask Obama apologist Wendell Goler.