Doug Thompson's The Rant: They Came to See a Race, Not a Photo-Op: "They Came to See a Race, Not a Photo-Op
By DOUG THOMPSON
Feb 16, 2004, 07:07
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DAYTONA, FL ? Some 200,000 NASCAR fans looked up with a mixture of amazement, surprise and yawns as Air Force One swooped low over Daytona International Speedway Sunday, circling for a few ceremonial passes before landing at the airport behind the race track.
?Must be an election year,? muttered 29-year-old Kevin Henderson of Charlotte, NC.
Yes, it is an election year and George W. Bush is in trouble, so he dropped in on the Daytona 500, tying up air traffic in and around Florida for most of Sunday afternoon, claiming his ?experience? flying fighters with the Texas Air National Guard qualified him as a speed freak but declined an offer in a NASCAR race car because ?the (Secret Service) agents wouldn?t let me.?
George W. Bush, the photo op President, on the campaign trail, seeking the support of 75 million NASCAR fans.
Time was, a Republican President seeking re-election could consider the NASCAR vote a given. Bush?s visit to Daytona came 20 years after Ronald Reagan came to Daytona to cheer Richard Petty?s 200th and final victory.
Reagan stayed until the end of the Firecracker 400 race on a July 4th weekend. Not Bush, Air Force One was back in the air long before Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off Tony Stewart to win his first Daytona 500.
Too bad. Congratulating ?Little E? in Victory Lane would have been the best photo op of all. But Dubya was back in Washington when the checker fell. He showed up before the race, delayed the start of the race while he glad-handed and posed for pictures and then delivered the traditional ?Gentleman, Start Your Engines? in a monotone that left many "