The RNC Takes Cheap Shot At Obamas' New York Date Night

A few things to chew over from the Obamas' night out in New York:

1. The White House said Obama promised his wife he would take her to a Broadway show after the campaign. And so he did.

2. We learn more about the foodie side of the Obamas. They ate at Blue Hill, touted in New York Magazine as perhaps "the best low-profile restaurant in town," (well, not anymore) featuring "pasture-raised turkeys and non-stressed Berkshire hogs."

3. The Obamas took in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." August Wilson's play opened in April. The New York Times snapshot: "Set in 1911 and the second chapter (chronologically) in Mr. Wilson's 10-play cycle of the African-American journey through the 20th century, 'Joe Turner's Come and Gone' is about nothing less than the migration and dispersal of a race and culture, searching for an identity and home."

4. This was Mrs. Obama's third trip to New York since the inauguration, with all three visits in May. (On Big Apple trip two, Mrs. Obama mused on couple's first date. "You know, after 20-some-odd years of knowing a guy, you forget that your first date was at a museum. But it was, and it was obviously wonderful; it worked," she said.)

5. The Republican National Committee sent out a press release and video Saturday, slamming the First Couple for taking Air Force One out on a "joy ride" to New York while the economy is still a mess and GM is filing for bankruptcy on Monday.

The RNC should have taken Saturday off and not raised the fuss because:

a. Obama did not take the jumbo jet most people think of as Air Force One. (Any plane the president rides in is Air Force One.) He flew in a smaller plane with staff and others riding in two additional aircraft.

b. My goodness, President Bush flew to his ranch in Texas all the time, and the RNC did not complain.

c. The RNC did not dispatch press releases filled with outrage when the Obamas traveled to Chicago for a weekend.

d. The RNC compared presidential travel to corporate excess (executives of failing companies flying in corporate jets), a fruity apples and oranges line of misreckoning. Presidents need security and secure communications systems all the time.

And on Sunday, the president played golf.