There is a way that I believe President Bush can really, really help our country in general, and the airline/travel/tourist industry in particular.

My suggestion is that the President fly Air Force One to New York's LaGuardia Airport (I know, it's in NJ!) and there take a commercial flight on a randomly chosen airline to LAX (that's Los Angeles International Airport).

He should take only two or three Secret Service Agents with him, plus one White House cameraman.

The remaining Secret Service detail should take Air Force One to LAX while the commercial the President's on is getting ready to depart from LaGuardia.

He should sit in the tourist section only. If the First Class passengers would like to meet and greet him, they should come back to that section.

While en route to LAX, he should banter and mix with the passengers, offering to have his photo taken with them as momentos, etc.

When this commercial flight finally arrives at LAX, the passengers will deplane and tell everyone within earshot (and camerashot, hehe)
of their marvelous experience flying with Mr. Bush.

The President demonstrates forcefully with his own act, that the skies are safe once again, and that people should come out of their bomb shelters!  Better than any press conference ever could!

At the same time, he's thumbing his nose at the groups who are responsible for our national tragedy, in a way that will be shown all over the planet!

And, God forbid, for any reason this plane [b]is[/b] successfully attacked and brought down, I think that America would insist that his likeness be chiseled onto Mt. Rushmore.

There should be no special security measures taken to insure his safety, other than those being taken right now for all American citizens who are compelled to fly for personal or business reasons.

I'm certain there are some flaws that need to be worked out in my proposal and welcome your comments!

Eric The(WeNeedAWarriorKing,er,PresidentAtThisTimeInOurHistory!)Hun[>]:)]

So would his secret service be armed?

Just one comment - you are right. We need a WARRIOR right now.

Replace the pilots, and don't forget about the fighter escort.

Post from hg112 -

I don't see why not. If President Bush were on a streetcorner in Crawford, Texas, they would be armed, so I don't see how that could make much of a lessening of the impact of my proposal! I mean he is, after all, talking about putting armed sky marshalls on all planes.

Post from Chaingun -

I'd rather not have the pilots replaced if at all possible. I think the thrust of this whole proposal is that the President gets on board the same as any other citizen.

Anything 'special' would detract from the message being sent. You can just hear his detractors saying 'Oh sure, he had his own hand-picked pilots! Easy for him to fly!'

When he arrives at LAX, he simply reboards Air Force One whenever he desires, for the return trip.

BTW, his father, George H.W. Bush, has already flown in a commercial airliner since Sept. 11!

Eric The(Sometimes,EvenSymbolismIsSubstance!)Hun[>]:)]

I like it. That is perhaps the best idea I've heard since this mess all started.
But, of course, we know it will never fly. (No pun intended.)

La Guardia is on Long Island.  Newark is in NJ.

I don't think your idea would work.  It smacks of when George Bush went out and bought socks on camera, as if it'd encourage people to consume their way out of the recession.

[nitpick]
JFK and LaGuardia are both in Queens, JFK in the southwest near the Long Island barrier islands, and LaGuardia in the North, on the East River near the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. Newark is in Jersey.
[/nitpick]

Maybe we could have clinton do it instead. He was always good at symbolism that accomplished nothing.

Sorry for the faux pas in LaGuardia's actual location. I'm just in 'flyover' country.

Eric The(SomeNits[u]Need[/u]ToBePicked)Hun[>]:)]

Clinton's already done it! Just to show you what a good fellow George W. is, when the attack on America occurred, the former boy-wonder President was sampling the aboriginal tang 'down under.'

Unable to return to the US via commercial airlines, Clinton was stuck in Australia, not a bad place to be stuck (right, 1feral1?), but certainly not where he wanted to be.

So President Bush, hearing of his predecessor's predicament, sent a military transport to pick Clinton up and fly him back to the good old USA!

Clinton's thank you to Mr. Bush? He rushed to NYC and 'ground zero' to upstage the President by several hours! That's gracious of him, no?

Eric The(WhenWillWeEverLearn?)Hun[>]:)]

Post from schnake -

You don't think that such a trip by Bush would accomplish anything?

I think it would be the perfect response by the President!

It's obvious that Bush will never be 'the policy wonk' as Carter was described, or 'the Great Communicator' as Pres. Reagan was called, but is, for better or worse, becoming 'the down to earth President' or 'the people's President.'

Whatever he does to show his connectedness to the American People will serve him not only now, but in the difficult days ahead.

Eric The(OrMaybeNot)Hun[>]:)]