The president and the first lady are on a date night in New York tonight — dinner , a show and then back to the White House.

Lots of presidents past have sought frequent escapes from what Abraham Lincoln called his “iron cage,” usually in the form of vacation homes that gave them weeks away from Washington But the Obamas are city folks and their movements and privacy (and their neighbors’) would be just as circumscribed in their Chicago home as it would be in the White House and Honolulu is a bit far for a getaway. They tried Camp David last week and the president has been playing a good bit more golf, but the city life seems to suit them most of all.

There will probably be plenty of blowback from the Obama’s hugely expensive night out — especially on the weekend before the administration nationalizes what was once the most consequential company in America. Wherever the president goes, it costs lots of money to get the motorcade, a Marine One-style chopper, security, medical support, press and everything else where it needs to be. It’s also very disruptive to the folks who serve and cover the first family. It’s what those support people are paid to do, but it’s one of the reasons that presidents (other than the 42nd) were generally reticent to take short-notice trips for their own pleasure. Costly, selfish and inconvenient are never good adjectives for politicians.