So in reality their commanders had little power over them, because grounding/firing them would mean they would have to drive everywhere
What makes you think that the president or anyone apart from the air force commander is actually aware of this fact? If the president hates him enough he will find a way to get rid of him. And if that grounds the plane he will just charter another one. After all didn't the Chinese govt charter their planes from Air China for state visits?
One more thing, do we actually know if the airfield equipped with a PAR or just a vanilla military PSR?
It seems strange that while the type is reliable mechanically and while I appreciate the fact that it routinely operates in airports with poor weather/terrain/navaids, there seems to be no shortage of pilots who ends up driving it into the ground or cause an unusual attitude situation. (Pulkovo flat spin comes into mind) Maybe we're looking in a training or culture problem, or perhaps the cockpit is not as ergonomically designed when compared to other types.