Today in framing

Wow! Nothing gets the presidential press corps excited like Big Loud Machines, huh? It's the Daily Mail, so there's really no need to read the text if you've waded through all the decks, but anyway:

Donald Trump got an up-close look at the new presidential aircraft Friday when the next generation of the Marine One fleet landed on the White House South Lawn.

The Sikorsky VH-92A staged the test landing as part of preparations for the new aircraft to enter service in 2021, replacing the Sikorsky VH-3Ds, which have been in service since 1978, completely by 2023.

The White House said Trump inspected the new aircraft, but it was unclear if he stepped on board - the press was not allowed to see him near the helicopter.

He will have to win a second term to be a passenger on the helicopter, with the first being due to enter service with Marine Helicopter Squadron One - HMX-1 in Corps shorthand - after Inauguration Day 2021.

Makes you wonder what the story might have looked like five years ago, doesn't it?

The Department of Defense awarded a contract on Wednesday to a Connecticut company that will build a fleet of helicopters to replace the Marine One fleet that ferries U.S. presidents short distances.

The contract, given to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, will cost an initial $1,244,677,064 'for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Presidential Helicopter Replacement program.' For that price the U.S. Navy will get six test aircraft and all the necessary research & development.

The Pentagon made a similar attempt to replace the aging fleet of Sikorsky choppers, spending $3.2 billion on a landing pad to nowhere.

Adding in the likely $17 billion price tag for the new project – a number estimated by the Congressional Budget Office – the $20 billion total makes the fleet the most expensive helicopters ever built.

Pretty impressive Arithmetic In The Service Of The Party there -- adding in the $3 million the Kenyan usurper spent before even taking office.

While we're on the topic of the party press, do you ever pine for the days when Fox News was obsessed with presidential golf at birthday time?

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama kicked off his birthday weekend Saturday with a round of golf with friends and a getaway to Camp David.

Obama, who turns 52 on Sunday, left the White House just after 8 a.m. EDT -- that's unusually early for the half-hour motorcade ride to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland -- to squeeze in some golf before the celebration shifted to the presidential retreat nestled in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.