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It is easy to become jaded in this town.
You can be awe-struck by the elegance of the U.S. Capitol as you walk up to it, or the beauty of its chambers and halls. Then you meet the people inside. Working out of the White House sounds glamorous. Then you’re sitting in a cramped basement cubicle in what used to be the swimming pool with spotty WiFi, hoping you don’t see any mice.
But flying on Air Force One? That’s undeniably cool.
I’m in Washington as part of McClatchy’s D.C. bureau. Like many outlets that cover the White House, McClatchy is sometimes responsible for being part of the protective press pool – a group of 13 journalists responsible for being the eyes and ears of the press corps while the president travels.
The press pool exists so that if there’s ever a crisis, there are reporters who can share information for the country. They were there when President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas and when President George W. Bush was whisked away from a Florida elementary school after two planes struck the World Trade Center on 9/11.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden was scheduled to fly to Tampa. It was McClatchy’s turn for travel pool duty. It was this reporter’s turn for his first trip aboard Air Force One.
There are two presidential planes – two modified Boeing 747-200Bs with the tail numbers 28000 and 29000. They have been flying since George H.W. Bush was president and are supposed to be retired next year.
Technically any plane the president flies in is called Air Force One, and there are four smaller planes — Boeing 757-200s — he can use for smaller runways.
I’ve only ever seen the smaller Air Force One – one of my first assignments was covering former President Barack Obama’s arrival and departure in Charleston, W.Va. So I was a little taken aback walking up to the big plane on Tuesday and giving my name to the Air Force Officer to get onboard.
I have never flown first class. When I purchase a plane ticket to visit family or go to a wedding, I generally choose the cheapest option, which means I usually don’t get to pick my seat. So it was a low bar when I got onto the plane and saw leather chairs with plenty of legroom and a little card with my name welcoming me onboard.
We had two meals – Italian hoagies with “real vegetable chips” and snickerdoodle cookies on the way out and beef with broccoli, fried rice, vegetable rolls, and milk chocolates with caramel on the way home. My father asked me whether it was “better than normal airline food?”
It was, but you could still tell it was airplane food.
The press is toward the back of the plane and kept separate from the president and most White House staff.
Biden was in Tampa for two campaign events. First, he made a speech to about 200 people in a community college gymnasium denouncing Florida’s six-week ban on abortion which goes into effect next week. Then he spoke to a smaller crowd of Democratic activists about the campaign. He told four young kids in the crowd that their parents owed them ice cream for dragging them along.
Being in the press pool is a little like being cattle, you’re herded from place to place as the president moves around. Airplane hangar to the plane, plane to motorcade, motorcade to event, event to motorcade, motorcade to plane. All the while, you’re supposed to send frequent updates with time stamps and details.
It wasn’t until we were up in the air on the way back that I allowed myself to relax a little and let reality sink in.
There’s an awful lot that isn’t fun about being a political journalist. But every once in a while, I feel like I can reach out and touch history; and get a reminder of both my privilege and my responsibility.
Just as soon as that thought started to settle in, John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council came back to chat with the reporters off the record. It was back to work.