NEW YORK (CNN) – A "furious" President Obama has ordered a review of the decision to fly a Boeing 747 frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
The review will focus on "why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again," Gibbs said. Jim Messina, a deputy chief of staff, will lead the effort.
On Tuesday, Obama told reporters, "It was a mistake. It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again."
Officials said that when Obama first found out about the incident, he was "furious."
From CNN Politics
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This is so sad. I can't believe something so cruel could come out of the most politically correct administration ever. Did they not think of taking a poll to see how the public would react.
Imagine the feigned outrage we would be hearing now if this had been the work of the Bush Adm. There would have already been about 6 hearing held.
Also, this little stunt also cost the the taxpayers about $328,000 for a photo op!!
So much for cost cutting!!
This will blow over in a few weeks, or the person who made the decision will need to step down.
Caldera was an incompetent at the University of New Mexico, so this show of appalling incompetence comes as no surprise. Where do we get these people?
The most puzzling piece of the poor judgment here was that, feeling it was important to have this photo shoot over Manhattan, they thought it necessary to keep it classified.
I presume that was because it used one of the "Air Force One" aircraft and there is probably some standing policy not to disclose the movements of any of the craft or to confirm or deny whether it is "active" in the sense of carrying the President..... But, wow! Pretty dumb that they would proceed with this shoot, and either not recognize the inevitable distress it would cause, or recognize it, and not realize that it would be imperative to override the "default" policy about discussing the "Air Force One" movements.
Amazing that Mr. Obama did not know of this.
Obama you should fire Caldera and move on. In the good name of accountability, please!
This is total 'incompetence' on the part of Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office. If President Barack Obama is really that "furious" about this terrible incident, he should ask Mr. Louis Caldera to resign, quit or be 'fired'. Mike in Montana
And once again, the media rushes in to defend and protect B.O. from his own incompetence and stupidity.
This is just another miltary attempt at continuing to spread fear and continue the Bush doctrine into the current administration. This was STUPID beyond belief but it accomplished it's goal-"Mission Accomplished".
Bill
First 100 days of what appears is going to be a debacle. Obama has declassified memos that only hurt the U.S, gone to our allies in the world and told them he is ashamed of our past, pushed our country into a deep recession without fulfilling campaign promises, and now his plane is buzzing the tower as if it is top gun. God help us if he has to actually take effective action on the swine flu threat. I am just glad that the media is sheltering his novice antics from the rest of the world. for the most part. It is getting embarrassing... He is a nice guy but his actions show he is full of it and the worst part is no one would have voted for the the cast around him. I think his supporters are starting to see through the smoke and mirrors.
Heads should roll for this really insensitive, thoughtless stupid photo op. Why was this "classified" in the first place? Did the person who gave the approval for this remember what happened on 9/11.
Well this was too close and almost no one will ever forget that! The fact that no one, except only the few in law enforcement knew and didn't tell anyone is shocking! This could have been handled differently, by inviting the public to enjoy the show their tax dollars have paid for.
FURIOUS? OBAMA FURIOUS? TOTAL FARSE !!!! They knew what was happening that day...to say that they didnt know air force one was going to be flying around without their knowledge is a total LIE !
Even a republican I feel bad for Obama for this event. The conservative blogs that I enjoy reading are tearing him apart for this, and he had nothing to do with it. It has to stink to randomly hear the news that some one else in your staff has done something to embarrass yourself that much, and disrupt the lives of so many people.
These plane don't leave the ground with out the President's knowledge! So once again Obama is lying to us with a straight face!
Obama was furious .........UNTIL.........he discovered it was Axelrod and Gibbs....preparing a big splash for Marketing his Campaign for Re-Election!!!
This is what happens after the first 100 days!!
Dream on Obama, you furious man, YOU!
Dream on...............
I am suspicious of whom actually agreed to do this. Seems like it was someone's attempt to undermine the president, cause some sort of incident.
It is just SO weird...... a photo op ...... really?? Odd. Very odd.
Please do investigate, who authorized this, whose idea it was and who would think that doing such a thing would be ...... okay??
Crazy. The whole incident........ smells..........smells bad
stupid as president you have no knowledge...........
He didn't know, and it's not his fault. The boy who cried wolf.
While I'm sure it was a genuine mistake to stage the flyover (and one Cladera will never forget for the rest of his life), it still is pretty beyond comprehension why no one thought to simply hire a graphic artist to PhotoShop a picture of the plane into the New York skyline.
This guy knows nothing about anything , how did he get to be Pres?
His outrage would have been almost believable except for the fact in video it appears he thought it was funny.
i want to know who is responsible for these actions. This is horrible! I want to know asap...