MIKE RUSSELL

Will someone tell me why Obama is here?

Aug 6, 2013, 4:39 PM | Updated: Aug 27, 2013, 1:59 am

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty cool when the commander in chief lands in your backyard. I don’t care what side of the aisle your ideologies reside. Although this particular trip to the Valley by President Obama has me scratching my head. What is the goal here?

Air Force One lumbers its way into Sky Harbor around noon, then goes wheels up around 2 p.m. What is POTUS supposed to accomplish in two hours?

Oh, I know. He has time to meet with our governor to work through pressing issues such as border security. Wait, he’s not meeting with Brewer? Maybe it was the whole finger-waving thing.

OK, he must be meeting with local business leaders to talk about job creation through tax incentives and walking back cumbersome regulations. No? No business meetings?

One more try. He must be working through the final details of Arizona’s healthcare exchange. No again? OH COME ON!

The POTUS is zipping over to a high school in Ahwatukee, making a speech about the housing market, taking advantage of a few photo ops and then on to the next prop. Seems like a legitimate use of the president’s time. Why not? It’s not like there is new evidence of a Benghazi cover-up, a worldwide travel alert, unemployment moving in the wrong direction or gridlock in the House and Senate.

Mr. President, if you want to come here, roll up your sleeves and help us work through some of our problems, we will roll out the red carpet for you every time.

But the next time you want to use our state as a backdrop for another campaign speech, just skip it. We could do without the airport congestion and freeway traffic.

Mike Russell

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Will someone tell me why Obama is here?