
President Obama's International Visits from 2009 to 2016 - espek07
http://www.arcgis.com/apps/TimeAware/index.html?appid=7219d04b9e0a491e9421999b2103a7f2
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jankotek
I hope Donald will stay at home. Every presidential visit brings multi-million
city to a halt. It has similar effect as an earthquake, major fire or other
natural disaster.

It is recommended not open windows, there is risk of snipers. International
airport is closed for several hours for a single airplane. And main roads are
closed everyday while president is traveling.

I still remember New Orleans. People could not leave flooded city, because
Bush decided to do a personal rescue mission :-(

~~~
random_upvoter
A couple of years back I saw president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on TV
talking to a group of people in Tehran. He just stood on the top of a car with
a megaphone and a big crowd of people surrounded him. Sure there were a few
bodyguards, but you if you wanted you could pretty much tap him on the
shoulder. Now I don't want to overestimate the merits of Iranian democracy,
but I was kind of impressed by this.

Compare this with the leaders of the Western world. If there's a summit, the
city gets under siege as if it's a Hollywood production. People are not
allowed to stand on their balcony. If you get within half a mile of Obama, a
sniper will put a bullet through your head. There is just something wrong
about this ritual of self-importance. Seriously, aside from personal tragedy,
what does it matter if some terrorist kills Obama? We just replace him with
the next guy in a suit and tie, and the following day it would be the exact
same politics. The system runs itself and no longer depends on the
individuality of the persons in the top position. In that sense it reminds me
of Europe in 1914 where the diplomatic system overruled the kings and
presidents. It may be one of the deeper reasons for Trump's election -- people
wanting somebody who can shake the tree.

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chki
"We just replace him with the next guy in a suit and tie" I think this misses
a key point of democracy. The president is not important as a person but
because he is legitimized by the american public. Replacing him requires an
enormous effort which is really what it is all about. On top of that one could
argue that the president has to be kept safe so that there is somebody willing
to get elected and take the risk. Sure, someone will always become president
but that person might not have the required skills.

~~~
dmd
> Sure, someone will always become president but that person might not have
> the required skills.

What a tragedy that would be! Fortunately, we have a system to prevent it from
happening.

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Waterluvian
Not the best of maps to tell that story. The loxodromes between Washington and
the countries he visited aren't all that useful, yet draw most of the
attention.

I'd probably make a list of countries, ordered by visit. Beside that, a simple
political map with the markers. I'd resist the urge to label the markers with
the city he visited, but I might have a mouse-over for more info and a link if
available.

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skept
Hope this isn't too off-topic, but if you like this and want to create a
similar map of your own international/domestic flights you can do that here:
[https://skyhops.com/](https://skyhops.com/)

Disclaimer: personal side project

~~~
freehunter
That's pretty cool!

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eps
Apparently in 2009 Obama visited Moscow and managed to meet _both_ president
Putin and president Medvedev. Granted, it is sometimes hard to remember who of
these two is a president at any given moment, but a two-president state is a
bit pushing it.

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Angostura
Perhaps, as with the US you retain the honorific title 'President' even after
leaving office.

~~~
jlangenauer
Actually, you don't. Former Presidents are just addressed as "Mr Obama".

[http://emilypost.com/advice/addressing-a-former-president-
of...](http://emilypost.com/advice/addressing-a-former-president-of-the-
united-states/)

~~~
ptaipale
However, e.g. whitehouse.gov refers to "President Clinton" in its description
(for the act of being born, not for his active role as president).

[https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/williamjclinton](https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/williamjclinton)

Where I live, Finland, a "President" is the official title for former
presidents (there are now three alive) so I should actually address them as
such. The current one is formally referred to as "President of the Republic".
I can't really check how this is with Russia.

~~~
prebrov
A friend of mine moved in next door to then President of Singapore. Even got
visited on couple of Christmas dinners.

Neither of them new protocol for the ex-presidency thing and after President
left office, upon mutual agreement neighbour now calls him "Uncle".

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akjainaj
This map really crawls on Firefox.

~~~
terenceng2010
This map uses arcgis jsapi 3.19, compare to leaflet js, it is quite heavy and
demanding for low-end pc or mobile. jsapi 4.x is more lightweight though.

~~~
akjainaj
I have a high end PC, but Firefox is... what it is ;P

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gcb0
firefox is awesome but it allows you to screw up. you are probably running a
bad extension that makes it that slow. if you have ad blocker, make sure it is
ublock origin.

also, it is the only browser that allows extensions on mobile.

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kfish15
Very noob question here, but how would one save this as a gif?

Sorry for being off topic, just curious.

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imron
Here's another nifty visualisation - this time with drone strikes:

[http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/](http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/)

~~~
dforrestwilson1
The statement that only 2% are high profile targets is kind of misleading. The
vetting that goes into assessing whether military age males are actually doing
bad things is surprisingly high.

I am not saying mistakes were not made. Civilians and kids have died for sure,
but the majority of those killed were combatants. Implying otherwise makes me
doubt the veracity of the other claims here.

Nifty visualization though.

~~~
berdario
Is the vetting truly that high?

[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/i-am-on-the-us-kill-
list...](http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/i-am-on-the-us-kill-list-this-is-
what-it-feels-like-to-be-hunted-by-drones-a6980141.html)

From what you write, I understand that you mean mistakes in targeting/dropping
bombs, but not mistakes in assessing/choosing the target themselves. Or do you
mean otherwise?

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dforrestwilson1
[http://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154443665/how-the-president-
de...](http://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154443665/how-the-president-decides-to-
make-drone-strikes)

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k1lly
President Obama visited Moscow as he met with President Medvedev and President
Putin.

This is at least innacurate.

~~~
samkone
Accurate how? At the time Medvedev was President of Russia, and Putin was
Prime Minister. Since he was President before that, it's ok for him to be
referred as President, like any former President of country.

~~~
paublyrne
The convention of referring to an ex president as President is peculiar to
United States presidents, AFAIK.

~~~
loxs
It can also mean that he met with (then) President Medvedev and (now, as of
writing) President Putin

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smcmurtry
I'm curious why this doesn't show any flights to Hawaii - is the map only of
official visits? Obama takes an annual vacation there[1].

[1] [https://whitehouse.gov1.info/blog/blog_post/agenda-
hawaii.ht...](https://whitehouse.gov1.info/blog/blog_post/agenda-hawaii.html)

~~~
bobf
Hawaii isn't considered international, from the perspective of the US - it's
domestic. Notice that there also is not a trip to Alaska shown, though he did
visit Alaska. (And, trips in the mainland US are not shown either.)

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smcmurtry
Right, thanks! My US geography is a little rusty.

