Louis Caldera Goes Under the Bus
For authorizing the incredibly stupid Air Force One New York flyover, military office director Louis Caldera is out of a job.
A White House aide joined the unemployment lines today for his role in Air Force One’s controversial photo-op flyover above New York, the Obama administration just announced. (Of course, it’s scheduled for a Friday afternoon.)
In a statement, the White House said President Obama accepted the resignation of military office director Louis Caldera. Caldera, a former Army secretary, took responsibility for the Air Force flyover that sparked 9/11-echo panic in lower Manhattan on April 27.
The political cost can’t yet be calculated. Obama supporters won’t care. But the fact is against advice from the outgoing Bush administration, Obama’s team changed Caldera’s White House job classification from a career military officer to a political appointee. Now, we’ll see which way it goes the second time.
The White House also released its review of the flight near the Statue of Liberty and a photo. Earlier, Defense Secretary Robert Gates apologized for the incident and said it had cost as much as $357,000.
Frank says: