Ringleader Obama & His Giant Circus of 500 Go to Europe for G20 Summit
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 1, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
And I was complaining about how often POTUS flies out to Chicago on Air Force One? That’ll teach me…
President Barack Obama and his humongous entourage of 500 people have flown to Europe for the G20 summit. While security is always an issue for US presidents, and in the past, presidents have traveled with a large group, this is the largest by any stretch of the imagination of all POTUS trips to date. Nothing’s too good for our Obama, am I right?
Wonder what the harmful carbon imprint of this trip will ultimately be?
French President Sarkozy and Pres. Obama at European G20 summit
Details below about Ringleader Obama’s “greatest show on earth” traveling circus are supplied by the UK press (just answer me this: why does First Lady Michelle Obama need to have a staff of 8 with her on this trip?):
The entourage
Apart from the 200 secret service personnel who will follow Obama on his European tour, the president’s entourage will also include representatives of the White House Military Office, the White House Transportation Agency, the White House Medical Unit, the Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron, the State Department Presidential Travel Support Service, the US Information Agency, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service and the Customs Service.
In addition, there will be staff from the White House kitchen ready to turn out a quick burger should the president suddenly feel peckish.
Michelle Obama will have eight of her own staff, including a secretary, a press officer and bodyguards. And Obama’s personal aide Reggie Love – called by the president “the kid brother I never had” – will be at hand to provide pens, Nicorette gum, throat lozenges, tea or even aspirins.
The Beast
With its armour-plated body and doors, a raised roof, and reinforced steel and aluminium, The Beast will be Obama’s official car. It boasts a titanium and ceramic superstructure and a sealed interior forming a “panic room” capable of shielding him from even a chemical weapons attack. Equipped with a night-vision camera and an armoured petrol tank filled with foam to prevent explosion should it suffer a direct hit, it also has pump-action shotguns, tear-gas cannon, oxygen tanks and bottles of the president’s blood. Its tyres allow it to keep driving even if they have been punctured.
Marine One
Obama will be ferried from Stansted to the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park, London, in a VH-3D helicopter. For security reasons, helicopters are now preferred to motorcades, which are also dearer and more difficult to organise. Much of the current fleet of 19 presidential helicopters was built in the 1970s and after 11 September 2001, when it was decided faster and safer helicopters were needed. But last month Obama said his current presidential helicopter was “perfectly adequate”, a clear sign he is ready to cancel a multibillion-pound contract to replace it.
Air Force One
Using the most famous air traffic control call sign of any US aircraft, Air Force One, the president will arrive in his customised Boeing 747-200B series aircraft.
Beyond its armoured glass in all windows, Obama will have dined in the presidential suite and could even have worked out in his personal gym and taken a shower.
The aircraft has been designed with security as its priority and is equipped with armour-plated wings capable of withstanding a nuclear blast from the ground, flares to confuse enemy missiles and electric defence systems able to jam enemy radar. Mirror-ball technology in the wings is able to scramble infra-red guidance systems. More than 200 miles of wiring are specially shielded from electromagnetic interference caused by a nuclear attack.
Should the president feel the need to retaliate offensively, Obama is able to launch a nuclear strike while flying. The aircraft, among the most photographed in the world, has 85 telephones, 19 televisions, computer suites and faxes to ensure Obama stays in touch with the outside world. At the rear of the aircraft is Obama’s travelling press corps.
Secret Service
More than 200 Secret Service staff will protect the president during the trip, instantly recognisable by their dark business suits, sunglasses and communication earpieces.
John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W Bush were attacked while appearing in public. Kennedy was killed and Reagan seriously injured, while Bush survived when a hand grenade thrown towards his podium failed to detonate. Secret Service personnel have made three missions to the UK during which they have swept venues for bugging devices, tested food for contamination and measured air quality for bacteria. Obama was offered bodyguards over a year ago following concern that his African-American roots made him a target.
All is not going well at the G20—in fact, all hell is breaking loose:
Michelle Malkin: G20 thugs impersonate police, break into bank
Michelle Malkin: Photo album: mm.com reader’s dispatch from eye of G20 storm
Peace and Freedom Global Future: London Protesters Threaten Bankers, Evoke Executions
Wellsy’s World: Anarchy expected at G20 summit
New World News: G-20 Protests being Organized: Will Olbermann and the Other Liberal Media hide these stories?
UK Times Online: Nicolas Sarkozy’s threat to walk out of global summit | Anglo-Saxon gibe strains relations with Obama
Michelle Malkin: The coming G20 riots & the spread of mob rule
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: G20 protestor nutbugs breaking into banks, getting out of hand – Even dirtbag Russell Brand shows up!
Evan Thomas, Newsweek: Obama’s Nobel Headache
Protests are sweeping London during G20 Summit
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