We don’t have snowstorms but we have traffic jams: I suppose there is no way President Obama can lose California in 2012. But he’s giving it a shot tomorrow–attending two fundraisers that, with the usual level of presidential security, promise to immobilize the West Side of Los Angeles during evening rush hour. … P.S.: Some enterprising journalist should tote up the cost of the visit, in terms of lost work hours and productivity, and greenhouse gases emitted by motorists stuck in traffic, and compare it with the amount of money Obama raised. I bet the ratio is more than100 to 1.** … It became evident when George W. Bush visited a few years ago that presidential travel to West Los Angeles is akin to a small natural disaster. It doesn’t take much to cause the area’s strained highway system to tip into paralysis. It’s not like the 1960s, or 1980s. And it’s not like tooling around Washington, D.C. …
** Update: As several commenters note, it would be more efficient for Obama to just threaten to come to Los Angeles and have the city pay him to stay home. He gets more cash. We get to go to work. Win/win. …
Update 2: L.A. officials have announced mitigation measures, which appear to consist mainly of asking people to stay home. Well, that makes it easier for Obama. And that might be fine if this were an official visit necessary for him to do his duties as president. But today everybody’s supposed to stay home to make it easier for him to raise money for his campaign. … It’s almost like a mandatory dues checkoff! [Sorry. The Kochs made me say that.]