White House Defends Obama’s Travel Schedule

The White House defended President Barack Obama’s travel schedule Monday, arguing that the President’s apparent habit of visiting swing states was not political.

During his daily briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that a recent report from the Wall Street Journal claiming that Obama has visited more swing states than President Bush was skewed due to shifts in the political landscape.

“Increasingly we’ve seen that more and more states find themselves on the political map as potential battleground states,” Carney said.

Carney specifically pointed to Virginia, which due to its proximity to Washington, D.C. has been a frequent destination for Presidents but has just recently been classified a swing state.

The Press Secretary added that barring the President from visiting states that could be considered battleground states would place an unfair restriction on Obama and also set up a poor precedent for future administrations.