The Spectacle Blog
While I was in Los Angeles yesterday, I got a call from my friend Joe Fein, who told me he wouldn’t be able to make it to an event featuring Pamela Geller, author of The Post-American Presidency, that he had hoped to attend.
“They’ve shut down Olympic Boulevard!” Joe said in outraged tones, explaining that the major east-west thoroughfare had been closed to allow President Obama’s motorcade to proceed from Los Angeles International Airport to a fundraising dinner with Nancy Pelosi at the home of one of the president’s liberal Hollywood friends.
Tens of thousands of Angelenos were caught in the massive gridlock caused by Obama’s rush-hour motorcade, including journalist Hunter Walker who blogged it live:
I am coming to you live from the center of the worst traffic jam I have ever seen in my life. I’ve been trapped here for over three hours because President Obama and a group of Hollywood insiders are having a fancy fundraiser.
Someone apparently decided that Obama’s $30,000-a-plate dinner at the house of “West Wing” producer John Wells necessitated shutting down most of the major east-west through streets in Los Angeles… .
If the President was unable to get to John Wells’ house without causing this level of disruption, then perhaps he should have done his fundraising somewhere else …
Fortunately, my own route to LAX (where I caught the red-eye back to D.C.) was a north-south trip, not east-west, so I avoided the mess. Will irritated Los Angeles commuters remember this Obama-induced traffic nightmare for 11 weeks and hold Democrats accountable in November?
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More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/08/17/obamas-hollywood-event-snarls
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JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 11:40AM
Drip, Drip, Drip--can't wait until 11/02/2010.
Pete| 8.17.10 @ 11:55AM
Loyal subjects do not complain about being inconvenienced by their rulers.
Laura | 8.17.10 @ 12:02PM
They same thing would have happened if it were any other predident...would it be better if it were Bush causing the traffic james? Get over, dude there are like 10000 other things you should worry about...like world hunger, homelessness, etc. If you are this upset about a traffic jam, you must have a pretty easy life...
ELADAVE| 8.17.10 @ 5:56PM
We will always have world hunger, it's unavoidable, we will always have homeless, it's unavoidable, and we will always have rude inconsiderate people like you and Obama, it's unavoidable.
Sue22| 8.18.10 @ 12:33AM
Laura obviously doesn't live in LA! LOL It's not about which president it was, you just have no clue.
Laura | 8.17.10 @ 12:04PM
Excuse the spelling errors I was typing really fast and did not proof it...but is a comment section so you'll have that.
ncatty| 8.17.10 @ 12:56PM
Hey Laura, don't forget to accuse McCain of racism like we discussed on Journolist this morning. Same for you Chuck T.
Warrior | 8.17.10 @ 1:07PM
You seem to forget that NYC had similar problems when he tied up traffic during the day their so he could be on the View. Seems like he doesn't care who gets inconvenienced as long as "The Campaing That Never Ends" continues.
Boston12GS| 8.17.10 @ 12:20PM
Hey, Laura, WHEN did Bush do this? I can remember when Clinton did it (for his fancy haircut). But not when either Bush Sr. or Jr. or Reagan did it.
Maybe the folks in LA are upset because Obama ACTUALLY did it, and are NOT upset by the fact that Bush DIDN'T do it?
Don Nelson| 10.23.10 @ 1:15AM
Bush delayed the return of the USS Lincoln, for several days, so he could have his Mission Accomplished photo op.
Michael| 8.17.10 @ 12:33PM
You had to have experience the nightmare in order to realize that it was an unnecessary mess that caused not only traffic jams, but delays along with accidents, angry residents/commuters and prolonged hunger pangs. Bottom line, it was the wrong time of the day to shut down the major intersections and unexpected disrupt and disturb the lives of ten of thousands for over 5 hours. Instead of blaming political parties, the focus should be future solutions, for example coordinate accordingly with putting lives at risk.
Sue22| 8.18.10 @ 12:38AM
Those that do not live here have no idea the hassle a regular day can entail - let alone a shut down. It wasn't just a minor thing - being 2 hours late to pick up your kid is NOT a minor thing - and then this morning 1.5 to 2 hrs late to work - THOUSANDS of people! Did anyone lose their job? Maybe. So unless you have had to sit in it, you have really have no right to comment! Unless it wouldn't bother you to maybe run out of gas on a fwy, or have a kid waiting hours for you, oh, and the bathroom! List goes on. MORONS.
Chuck T. | 8.17.10 @ 12:49PM
The EXACT same thing happened every time Bush was in town for a $30,000 a plate fundraiser. I'm stuck in traffic and late for work too. Don't be a whiny idiot.
Flee| 8.17.10 @ 4:26PM
I have been in So Cal for over 40 yrs and don't recall a Republican President venturing into the home of a Hollywood producer to fund raise. I remember them going to major hotels and to OC but not around here. Even if it were so, would that excuse it this time? This president seems to live by the rule if it was okay that the previous guy did this and did it wrong, then it's okay for me to do it to. He displayed great insensitivity to working people of LA. This is not all that surprising to Conservatives but maybe it opened a few eyes of the liberal and progressive lemmings.
Michael| 8.17.10 @ 1:21PM
Thank you, Chuck T. This was an epically bone-headed street closure by any estimation, but the Secret Service and local police are responsible for mapping and securing the route of travel---not the president. I highly doubt that Barack Obama took the time and energy to instruct his security detail which streets to take.
Something similar happened in 2004, when a visit from President Bush left me trapped downtown for most of the evening... it was no more his fault than this was Obama's.
James| 8.17.10 @ 4:05PM
Actually, from what I've heard from some LAPD officers, it was the White House's fault. They were not informed of where the motorcade would be travelling.
Marie Antoinette| 8.19.10 @ 7:32AM
Let them eat cake.