The Obama administration is doing their best to keep New Yorkers on their toes:

An Air Force fighter jet and one of President Barack Obama’s official planes on Monday flew low over the Statue of Liberty in an approved photo opportunity that startled some New Yorkers who have memories of the September 11 attacks.

New York City officials notified some businesses but not all city agencies or the general public. People in New York remain sensitive to such incidents in lower Manhattan, site of the 2001 attacks involving hijacked airliners that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Many people left their buildings, and stock prices extended losses at the time.

The U.S. Air Force, which operates the president’s plane, said the “aerial photo mission” involved an F-16 fighter jet escort and one of the Boeing 747s designated as Air Force One when the president is aboard. Obama was not on board.

Police said federal authorities told them not to disclose the information ahead of time but to direct inquiries to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mayor Bloomberg is reported to be “furious” — either because most people weren’t informed of the fly-by, or that he found out the plane was carrying foods loaded with trans fats.

Look for Obama’s people to claim it was a selfless gesture on the part of the president to take New Yorkers minds off the swine flu.

Click the pic below to watch the CBS 2 story on the ill-timed buzz of Lady Liberty:

As for the environmental impact of this photo-op, we’ll have to consult the “carbon footprint calculator” — though it can’t be nearly as bad as “Hurricane Latrina” that blew through DC on Inauguration Day.

What’s going to be the next Obama administration photo op? My money is on lighting firecrackers next to a group of napping D-Day veterans.

Update:

An administration official says a presidential Boeing 747 and a fighter jet flew low near ground zero in New York City Monday because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president’s plane near the Statue of Liberty.

Seems to me that a little thing called “Photoshop” could have saved a ton of fuel, not to mention spared a few nerves.

The White House has apologized, and this report says Obama was also “furious” — and this is a president who sat through an anti-American diatribe by Daniel Ortega without batting an eye.