Only three presidents have visited all 50 states in office. Until now

[former9thward]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama's visit to South Dakota Friday means he'll be able to strike a major item from his bucket list: visiting all 50 states while in office.

The president will travel to Watertown, South Dakota Friday to deliver the commencement address at the Lake Area Technical Institute. And with that visit, he joins a rare club of presidents who have made it to every state in the Union while in office. The others: Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. (Bush's spot in the club is particularly notable since he accomplished the feat before the end of his first and only term.)

Obama, who had yet to visit four states at the beginning of the year, has steadily been checking them off -- Idaho in January, South Carolina in March and Utah in April. That travel has been part of an expressed goal by the president himself to make it to all 50 states before he exits the White House in January of 2017.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/07/only-three-presidents-have-visited-all-50-states-in-office-until-now/?wpisrc=nl_pmpol&wpmm=1

[yallerdawg]

1. The President is the people's representative!

Outstanding accomplishment!

I saw him in Selma, Alabama!

[ailsagirl]

2. You lucky dawg!!!

[glowing]

3. I assume WaPo mis typed South Carolina for Dakota...

We all know that South Carolina is a primary numb on the road to the White House

[former9thward]

5. While in office.

They are not counting the period before he became president.

[mahannah]

4. Excellent. Now make the visit worth a damn.

[Cha]

23. President Obama always makes "the visit worth a damn".. those who have been paying attention know

this.

[RoccoR5955]

6. And Bush will NEVER EVER visit Vermont!

Because there is still a warrant there for his arrest!

[calimary]

11. bush/cheney are going to have to live out their days in a kind of exile.

They sure don't dare try to go to Europe! The chimp almost got his ass arrested awhile back when he was planning to go to Belgium!

[RoccoR5955]

12. Yeah, I know

Belgium is only about a two hour train ride from The Hague, where the bastard would have ended up!

[47of74]

18. Didn't that bastard Rummy have to high tail it one time?

Wasn't he over in Europe and wind up almost getting arrested?

[erronis]

7. I coulda sworn he was saying his phucket list. Now I understand.

All those comments about tossing items from the repuglicans into a phucket. I had such a hard time imagining what a phucket could be. Perhaps a cistern or a sewer, maybe a hole in the ground where weasels lived to chew on fatty gristle (Christle?)

Now that I know it's just a plain ole bucket, I just want to know how you dispose of all that nauseating stuff.

[sheshe2]

8. That's my President~

Chippin' away at his bucket list!

[LibDemAlways]

9. He's been to Calif. numerous times for

fundraising and to appear on tv. Hope before the end of his term he'll make a non-fundraising trip to address a problem or two of this most populous and diverse state. Not a criticism, just an observation.

[Hekate]

15. He came to LA while still a Senator, and spoke on some public school's sports field. I was there...

It was a diverse crowd, with a large proportion of African Americans as befitted the neighborhood. That's where I first heard him tell the "story" of our country as I have always understood it, and that warmed me to him. I would have loved to linger and try to shake his hand, but my Dem friends and I had travelled 2 hours in a van to get there and the guy who was driving knew the traffic was going to be wickedly jammed very soon, so we had to leave as soon as the applause started dying away.

I'm with you -- I wish he'd come back.

[LawnKorn]

10. I thought the President had been to Sturgis, South Dakota

I thought the President had been to Sturgis, South Dakota, [font size=4]TWICE!
[/font]

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. I have a teacher friend in Watertown who is all in a tizzy over this. n/t

[geardaddy]

19. Yeah, isn't Watertown a bit "red"?

[Cha]

25. Watertown, South Dakota Greeters on Motorcade route..

People line the motorcade route as President Barack Obama arrives for a commencement address in Watertown

More pics from Watertown, SD.http://theobamadiary.com/2015/05/08/the-president-and-first-ladys-day-17/

[BumRushDaShow]

14. K&R

And quite an achievement.

[Cha]

26. And, it's what he's done in all those 50 states, too, BRDS.. pics from Watertown, South Dakota!..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1089094

[BumRushDaShow]

27. That's' great Cha!

And that quilt is amazing. Was always fascinated by folks who do quilting. Very tedious but precise work but the effort produces some amazing results!

[Cha]

28. Love Quilts myself.. and fascinated!

[LiberalFighter]

16. How many were presidents when we had 50 states?

[randr]

20. Alaska became a State in '59

Making it only possible for 10 Presidents to have visited all 50 States.
If Obama is the 4th it is not that big a deal though I respect his effort just the same.

[whistler162]

21. To be accurate 11

since Ike was President in 1959 when Hawaii and Alaska became states.

[One_Life_To_Give]

17. We should count All States in the Union during the time of Presidency

Yes Washington and Adams had it easy. But the point should be not hitting a number but about connecting with everyone in the country. Thus hitting 100% should be the mark. Besides Washington's StageCoach One really did not have the Speed of the current AirForce One.

[rpannier]

22. Yep

Number of states and mode of transportation
Had Grant or Arthur visited all of the states in the Union I'd have been really impressed.
Esp Grant, since that would have taken him through the South, where I think he was far more unpopular than President Obama

But, it's still an accomplishment

[BumRushDaShow]

30. "where I think he was far more unpopular than President Obama"

I doubt that. Put Grant beside Obama and it would be a no-brainer. AAs are considered the bottom of the barrel in this country.

[rpannier]

31. I think if you talked to southerners today and were able to talk to

southerners back then about Grant
I think you'd find that a higher percentage of southerners living in the 1870's loathed Grant than the percentage of southerners today loathe Obama

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Unfortunately, the political landscape there

doesn't match what people may "say in public". It's what they "do" that is what tells you where they really stand. E.g., when you had a Carter or a Clinton (both southerners) pick up states in the south that Obama would never be able to get.

Essentially, carpet-bombing the south during the Civil War was still not as egregious as making the "negro" an "equal" (which is why Jim Crow came quickly after Reconstruction once the North pulled out).

[BumRushDaShow]

29. "StageCoach One really did not have the Speed of the current AirForce One."

Yeah but Washington was on the road hauling his slaves back and forth from here in Philly, to VA every 6 months, since it was illegal to own slaves here in PA and he wasn't about to give them up.

[Cha]

33. Thank you for the history on Washington.. don't think of him as having slaves but that's the

reality, BRDS.

As far as the "point of connecting with everyone in the country".. President Obama has done an excellent job of connecting to the People in all 50 States.





http://theobamadiary.com/2015/05/09/rise-and-shine-1054/

Happy Weekend to you

[BumRushDaShow]

34. LOL @ his map!

What a great visual.

Hope you have a great weekend too Cha!

[Cha]

24. Good on the President.. Pic of Jefferson Kindergarteners' Artwork Welcoming Obama..

Pete Souza: Backstage in Watertown, South Dakota.


President Barack Obama is presented with a handmade quilt as h a a gift from members of the class of 2015


President Obama gave the Commencement Address-May 8, 2015~

MOre..
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/05/08/the-president-and-first-ladys-day-17/

Mahalo former9thward~

[Cha]

35. KICK