President Obama is confident that area officials can keep residents of the D.C. metro area safe during the impending snowstorm, even though the presidential motorcade itself got stuck in less than an inch of snow Wednesday night.
Still, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama believes District of Columbia officials will be ready to handle up to two feet of snow or more.
“They were not the only vehicles delayed by the snow last night,” Earnest said of the motorcade, which took 74 minutes to reach the White House from Andrews Air Force Base Wednesday night. Normally, that trip takes less than half that time.
Obama was scheduled to helicopter back to the White House from Andrews after his day trip to Detroit, but his security detail made a “bad weather call” and opted to drive instead.
“There’s no doubt that these kind of road conditions pose a hazard to everyone on the roads,” Earnest said. But given that Obama was traveling in a “heavy SUV with a professional driver,” the military and Secret Service “decided that was safer than a helicopter ride. Security is a top priority, and that’s what led them to choose to drive from Andrews last night,” Earnest added.
He was responding to an account from a reporter traveling with the president Wednesday night that the motorcade “made its way slowly … through the snowy streets … [and] stopping at most stoplights.”
“The vans slipped and skidded on the icy roads, making contact several times with the curb during the more suburban part of the drive,” the report continued. “After nearly an hour, the motorcade vehicles started making more aggressive use of their sirens and stoplight privileges.”
The reporter noted observing several accidents en route, leading some to question whether it was safe to have the commander-in-chief sitting in traffic with commuters for more than an hour.
