Study Names Clinton Most Frequent Flier Taxpayer Group Faults Foreign Trips' Cost and Use as 'a Venue to Escape'

By George Lardner Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 16, 2001; Page A02

Bill Clinton made himself "America's Best-Traveled President," spending the equivalent of almost a full working year abroad on trips that probably cost more than half a billion dollars, according to a study to be released today by the National Taxpayers Union.

Like Richard M. Nixon, Clinton spent more time in foreign lands during the year he faced intensive investigation and impeachment than in any other year, the group said.

In 1998, when the crisis over his affair with a White House intern led to his impeachment by the House, Clinton went abroad for 45 days.

Nixon spent 22 days on foreign travel in 1974 before resigning as president that August. At that rate, the study said, he would have spent 40 days abroad had he remained in office for a full year.

The taxpayer group said it recognized that foreign travel is an important component of presidential diplomacy, reaping benefits such as treaties and trade agreements. But, the group said, at the same time it can be used as "a venue to escape domestic scandals and political crises."

The National Taxpayers Union officials who conducted the study were John Berthoud, president, and Demian Brady.

Clinton spokeswoman Julia Payne said his travels helped create new jobs, because of increased exports, and promoted emerging democracies and human rights around the world.

She said she was puzzled that "someone would criticize that, but I'm not surprised that this group did."

The group said it looked at all presidential visits to foreign nations back to 1953, when Dwight D. Eisenhower became president, "mostly the period of the jet age."

Clinton made 133 visits to foreign nations, more than any other president, the study said, and spent a total of 229 days in those countries, "nearly one full working year."

Although Ronald Reagan was abroad for 118 days, making 25 trips during his two terms, the study said George H. W. Bush was actually Clinton's closest competitor, spending 102 days on 25 trips in a single four-year term.

"In his eight years in office, Clinton made more foreign visits than presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon combined," the study said.

In the study, each occasion when the president left the country was counted as one "trip." A "visit" was counted for each separate nation where the president paid a call during a "trip."

The study said General Accounting Office reports on half of Clinton's 54 foreign trips, including a special rundown on his 1998 travels to Africa, China and Chile, showed total costs of $263.4 million, mostly for aircraft support paid for by the Defense Department. The accounting does not include costs to the Secret Service, which are classified, or costs to agencies involved in planning the trips.

Add in the costs of the remaining 27 trips not studied by the General Accounting Office, Berthoud said, and "there is no way in the world his travels cost less than half a billion dollars."

Saying that new questions need to be asked about how much presidential travel is needed in the post-Cold War era, the study pointed out that Clinton himself made this an issue during the 1992 presidential campaign against Bush. In New Hampshire, the union recalled, Clinton said, "It is time for us to have a president who cares more about Littleton, N.H., than about Liechtenstein; more about Manchester than Micronesia."

Later, Democrats at the national convention in New York were given T-shirts printed with "George Bush's around-the-world tour" and a list of all the countries he had visited.

Payne said the study amounts to little more than "a rehash" of General Accounting Office reports that had been requested by Republican senators.

"Just to put it into a binder doesn't mean a fair study was done," she said.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

Clinton's Legacy: Most Frequent Flyer Miles of ANY PRez. - Cost? Try HALF A BILLION $$$$$$$$ In Tax Payers Money! "I feel your wallet...I mean pain"

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), March 16, 2001

Answers

Clinton is no longer president. Get over it already! But...if you still want to hound after Clinton's cock (and you know you do), I have been informed of a website that is selling a life sized flacid "Clinton" penis that you can hang on your computer monitor. That way you can see the organ you salivate over every day. Write me for the URL.

-- Mikel (mej023@earthlink.net), March 19, 2001.

2C’s

Mr.Mikel, in order to replicate this ‘flaccid’ organ a good many liberals must have had a close-up look. Why am I not surprised?

BTW, I have it on good authority that the ‘real thing’ will soon be removed and the owner reduced to a sorrowful gelding.

-- So (cr@t.es), March 19, 2001.