Food & Politics Memo: A Cheeseburger in 'Mile-High' Paradise - President Obama Takes His First Trip Aboard 'Air Force One' and Orders A Cheeseburger

Special Report: President Obama & the U.S. Food Industry

One of the major perks of being President of the United States of America is the use of Air Force One, the fully-armored, customized jet that's ready and available for use by the President and Commander-in-Chief 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The fully-secure Air Force One is outfitted on the inside to look and feel more like the living room of a house rather than the interior of a typical jet plane. It has leather chairs that recline, a couch, a big screen television, and other comfortable features.

There's also a complete Presidential office inside the plane for the President's use, as well as office space for the many aids who travel with him.

The Presidential plane, which also features a fully-secure wireless government Intranet network (fully connected in real-time to the Pentagon, for example), also has beds inside and a kitchen. The kitchen is fully-staffed, including with a prefessional "Commander-in-Chef," and even offers a choice of food, beverage and dessert items on the menu.

Just one day into his first-term as President and Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America, Barack Obama took his first plane trip on Air Force One -- and the American President and leader of the most powerful country in the world ordered and ate his first meal aboard the flying White House.

And it just might surprise some who've heard, including from First Lady Michelle Obama herself, that the new American President can have picky tastes when it comes to food that the very first meal President Obama ordered and ate aboard Air Force one was that quintessential American delight -- a cheeseburger -- a cheddar burger, done medium well -- to be precise, according to the President's communications staff.

We're told that the hamburger, cheddar cheese, buns and everything else contained in the burger is "Made in the USA." We couldn't get confirmation by press time however whether or not the hamburger meat is organic and hormone-free.

In fact, you a view a video of the new American President's first flight aboard Air Force One, and his first meal, courtesy of the nationalgeogrpaphic.com channel at this link: Video with the “central casting” quote, and a pre-roll ad.

It appears to Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) that President Obama's campaign-winning, and now Presidential, communications team is being ever-smart and savvy in wanting to showcase the fact that the President chose to order and eat what is arguably the most popular food choice among Americans during his first trip of what will be many aboard the Presidential jet.

Since a great many Americans are eating cheeseburgers, particularly the ones off the dollar-menu at McDonalds, instead of steak and other more expensive meals in the current bad economy, touting President Obama's choice of a cheddar cheeseburger also shows his concern for the food choices of his fellow Americans in trying times.

But the truth is, President Obama is known to actually love cheeseburgers almost as much as he loves chili, which he has said is one of his most favorite foods of all.

Meanwhile, we suggest the new President's food choice, the cheddar cheeseburger, offers great promotional opportunities for the beef industry (hamburger) and the cheese industry (and all those who make the stuff that goes into burgers), especially those companies that make and market cheddar variety cheese. The first meal aboard Air Force One could also give the restaurant industry a needed shot in the arm were it to promote burgers big time starting tomorrow.

And by ordering the burger medium-rare, President Obama is showing he is a prudent President in terms of avoiding e-coli by not ordering his burger done rare, but that he is far from being a wimp who fears e-coli so much that he would order the burger well done, thereby dramatically decreasing the chances of any of the bacteria surviving after cooking but at the same time completely ruining the taste of the burger. A country needs such characteristics in its President and Commander-in-Chief, after all. And so does the meat industry.

With about 83% of Americans currently approving of the new President (president Bush left office with a 13% approval rating), according to polls released today, its hard to think of a better rapid-response PR campaign that the U.S. beef and cheese industries could launch right away, capitalizing on the popular President's first meal aboard Air Force One.

Meanwhile we think being able to order a medium rare cheddar cheeseburger off the menu, then have it prepared for you right there, gives brand new meaning to that popular Jimmy Buffett song, "Cheeseburger in Paradise." But in all fairness, President Obama has so many crisis and challenges to address, we want him to have a many moments in paradise as he can find, including those culinary ones that occur a mile-high in the sky.