The heads of government in London for the G-20 summit are discussing serious and weighty issues, which in time will be duly reported on, but right now the British press is entranced by the sheer size of President Obama's traveling entourage. And no wonder.
Obama arrived with 500 staff in tow, including 200 Secret Service agents, a team of six doctors, the White House chef and kitchen staff with the president's own food and water.
And, according to the Evening Standard, he also came with "35 vehicles in all, four speech writers and 12 teleprompters." For sure, our president is not going to be at a loss for words.
The press duly reported on Air Force One and all its bells and whistles but also on the presence of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, and a fleet of identical decoys to ferry him from Stansted airport to central London.
Among all those vehicles is the presidential limousine, which one local paper mistakenly called Cadillac One, but is universally referred to as the Beast. The limo, reinforced with ceramic and titanium armor, carries tear gas cannon, night vision devices, its own oxygen and is resistant to chemical and radiation attack. It is, marveled one reporter, a sort of mobile panic room. The Guardian called it "the ultimate in heavily armored transport."
The president is entitled to all the security, communications and support he feels necessary to do his job but surely, when we're trying to project a more restrained, humble image to the world, the president's huge retinue could be scaled back to something less than the triumphal march from "Aida."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
America is "arrogant"?
Arrogance correctly describes Barak Hussein Obama, not America or Americans. His sense of entitlement is overwhelming and nauseating. If we do not suffer a devastating terrorist attact in the near future, it will surprising, because he is inviting one and leaving all doors open. He is making America LOOK weak, and he is MAKING America weak by talking about a "nuclear free world". This is all leading toward a "gun free world"---except for governments and criminals, of course. Governments who want complete control of their citizens must first remove all guns from those citizens. Dear God, please help us all.
Barry Soetoro
Many of you out there voted for this deceitful, dangerous character who is not even a U.S. citizen. He'll destroy this country yet.
Obama a cost-cutter
Apparently Obama's trip was a cost-cutting measure. According to same news source, Bush took 700 when he went to Europe!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/nov/19/uk.iraq
What a moron
Dale McFeatters is a moron. He should have done some basic research before reporting on this story. Obama cut down from the over 700 Bush used to travel in his entourage. But I suppose we can't expect stupid right wingers to let facts get in the way. The only thing that matters is to nit pick the President for irrelevant details in the hope that one of them sticks. What a moron.
Bush vs Obama
Stupid right wingers, interesting, what about the idealistic, head in their as*es left wing liberals? You can't tell them anything either. Cost cutting? I don't think so, there is not enough data for that assumption. Staff of 500 but he had 35 vehicles and the presidential helicopter, Marine One, and a fleet of identical decoys to ferry him from Stansted airport to central London (12 teleprompters?). Staff refers to people so there is not enough data in the story from 2003 to say how many vehciles, ships and the likes were with Bush. Liberals assume their beloved leader is in the right again. Bush had just declared war, he had better have protection, Obama is just going around shaking hands and being a 'nice guy'. For the airhead liberals, you can't multiply wealth by dividing it, it's mathematically impossible and only 2% of the US population earns $300K or more so that leaves 6 million people who are going to pick up the tab for 294 million people. I'm not great at math, but this also seems like a mathematics impossibility. Why don't we just declare ourselves communists and make all the liberals happy. Social medicine, share the wealth, dig out your history books if you were in school in the 50s, that was at the basis of the cold war, keeping the communists out. I would rather be poor than be a communist.
To those of you who insist
To those of you who insist on calling people who don't agree with you about Obama "stupid right-wingers," what's the matter with YOU that you cannot disagree with someone without calling him "stupid?"
Economics
With the economy down the drain and so many without jobs HERE in the US the President was able to spend - yet again - alot of money for show. Hmmmm How long are Americans going to put up with this? When he said change I did not know it was going to be out of OUR pockets!!
WAKE UP AMERICA
GOD HELP US HERE IN THE USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can we educate the public school graduates?
We are headed toward a dictatorship, today they are talking about doing away with 22nd amendment so Obama can be "president" for life.
One world religion, one world government. History; we had better learn that Hitler was VOTED IN
Seriously?
President for life? Dictatorship? One world religion? Do you people have the slightest idea how unhinged from reality you are? I think every sane American should read this insanity and realize how far the right wing in this country has degenerated into slobbering paranoia. It's kind of disturbing to watch you people lose an election, you know?
just as all the smart lib
just as all the smart lib professors told us bush was taking over the world?
Yeah it could happen.
Twenty years ago if someone said that US Government would start taking control of major banks and the president of the US would fire the president of GM the response of the Anonymous post titled Seriously? would have been bantered about then as well. Yet, here we are. Amazingly the budget deficit of 200 billion under Bush was horrifying and a budget deficit of nearly a trillion under Obama is visionary and getting things "back on track." The left has suffered a severe head injury. I am not blaming Obama solely. The congress has some say in these shenanigans. I need some congressman - I don't care which state - to stand up and say "You know guys, this boy's dogs are off their leash and we need to stop this right now before it goes any further." Well, put like that, it will a representative of Texas or Louisiana but you get the idea. To summarize, yeah, what is described by some of the comments here could definitely happen. So Seriously? You may want to take it seriously.
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