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Christina Bellantoni

Christina Bellantoni

Posted: May 1, 2008 05:45 PM

Obama loves Air Force One


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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A voter's question about meeting foreign leaders in a fancy plane inspired a little riff from Sen. Barack Obama about the presidential airplane.


Obama said he has been on Air Force One once - after speaking at the dedication of the Abraham Lincoln presidential library in Illinois. "George Bush offered us a ride back," he said.


The plane was "big spiffy, [and had] all kinds of people in there doing all sorts of stuff," Obama said, laughing at his own joke.


But the best thing, he said, is that the plane passed through a thunderstorm on the way back to Washington.


"We were bumping and shaking and knocking all around and I knew we weren't going down," he said, to laughs from his 100-person audience at a town hall forum. "You feel very confident in there. Turbulence doesn't bother you at all. ... It's got like 8 engines."



Christina Bellantoni is a national political reporter for The Washington Times.