President Obama learned that even presidential motorcades can get stuck in snowy Washington, D.C. traffic.

After a day trip to Wisconsin Wednesday following his State of the Union Address, President Obama returned to a sleeting and snowing Washington, D.C.  What is usually a 10-minute or less helicopter ride aboard Marine One from Joint Base Andrews, formerly known as Andrews Air Force Base, turned into a nearly one hour motorcade ride from the base where Air Force One landed to the White House, according to pool reports.

President Obama has previously mocked the region’s inability to handle the winter weather compared to his hometown of Chicago. During his first year in office, he joked about his daughters having a snow day from school because of a little “ice,” as he called it.

Back in January 2009, Obama had called D.C. “weather wimps” and said “as my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled.  In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out that you go out for recess.  You wouldn’t even stay indoors.”

He went on to say he needed to give the city some “some flinty Chicago toughness” with regard to the weather.  According to a report by the National Weather Service, the Washington D.C. area got two to three inches of snow that day.

Apparently that toughness hasn’t rubbed off.  With just a little snow on the ground but 10 inches of snow expected, the federal government went ahead and closed two hours early.

Vehicles in the back of Obama’s motorcade, including two vans carrying members of the press, became separated from the SUV carrying the president for a short time, though the motorcade reconnected before Obama arrived at the White House.

Law enforcement officers often close off roads where the president may be traveling, but the roads were not cleared for his motorcade Wednesday. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Secret Service did not want to divert resources dealing with the storm in other parts of the Washington area.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said everyone in the president’s party returned to the White House safely. Commuters on the road were likely less affected by Obama’s motorcade than they would have been had officials closed his lengthy route to traffic, he said.

(Source: CNN)