Obama taking 500 staffers with him to London
By Fortunata
@Fortunata (1135)
United States
March 30, 2009 1:32am CST
Obama will be taking:
His armoured car, nicknamed "The Beast";
His personal assistant, Reggie Love(lol), who will provide him with cigar-uh, I mean nicorette gum(nice try, Barry, ain't buying it, sorry);
His four chefs(Guess he's afraid he'll be poisoned? What happened to his confidence?);
His wife, Michelle,
6 doctors and surgery equipment(But wait! I thought National Health Care was the best! You mean he doesn't trust social medicine, lol?)
Secret Service, yada yada, and various buttboys and fangirls(I'm guessing). And, I'm sure Teleprompter and Wide Screen Teleprompter will be there to really make him 'shine.' Nice to know that all these 500 will be getting there to the other side of the pond via the taxpayers. I got this eye-popping editorial from the Daily Mail, a british newspaper. I don't recall any other president during my life time that took this many people with him overseas. Strange...
3 people like this
8 responses
@us2owls (1681)
• United States
30 Mar 09
Read the Sun - www.thesun.co.uk - bottom of pages 12 & 13. He is flying in tomorrow night on Air Force One - going by helicopter to the US ambassadors residence - two heavily armed bomb proof Presidential Cadillacs have already been flown in. Air Force Two is also coming full of people - he is bringing an entourage of around 650 people - 300 of them will be Secret Service - and the list goes on - whenever he goes anyplace he will be in a motorcade of no less than 24 cars. Well taxpayers in the credit crunch are going to foot a MASSIVE bill for this little trip.
2 people like this
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
30 Mar 09
I guess he looked over at Congress and saw how they do things with there private planes at our expense and using Air Force planes which is even more expensive and thought he should copy them. He considers himself a celebrity and, therefore, thinks he should have an enormouse entourage with him. He and Congress got after the auto CEOs for using private planes which cost much less than the millions this trip will cost. He is the consumate hypocrite.
2 people like this
@cuttyrish (3264)
• United States
30 Mar 09
500...that's too much, and they should use the funds to help other people not carry 500 people that would follow just Obama whenever he goes..that's what we call "showing-off"..lol. they should have at least decreased the number, too much staffers would gain lots of attention that would make his visit a bit risky...
1 person likes this
@sophie_dfuss (2365)
• Philippines
30 Mar 09
Wow thats a lot of staff and it costs a lot of money too!
Not a good move... 
1 person likes this
@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
30 Mar 09
I don't know what the typical presidential entourage is, but it is obcsene isn't it? I can see security, I can see some staff and even a physician, but 500? Is this normal? I'd have been just as outraged if Bush was traveling like this (and he probably was) so I'm going to hold the current puppet in chief to the same standard.
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
30 Mar 09
They might have added in advance entourage and back/clean-up entourage. From the documentary I saw a couple of years ago, they send a rather big contingent in advance to make sure everything is safe and set up to the President's safety and demands. Since this trip involves several countries, I'd assume that he already has several people all over Europe preparing this. And then there are people who stay behind to clean it all up so to speak, to make sure all the gear gets on a plane back to the US.
I remember when Bush visited Germany, just the safety precautions puzzled the people. No matter where he went, all kinds of stuff like garbage cans and other containers had to be removed, people who lived there were checked to make sure they wouldn't attack the president, manholes had to be what do you call that welted (?) shut and later re-opened. All that was coordinated by an American advance group in coordination with local officials. I can only say, 500 doesn't surprise me considering several cities are on his agenda, although one has to wonder why six doctors and four cooks are necessary, I'd say half the number is plenty.
I don't know, I just can't find much wrong with this considering that it has been done by other presidents and as much as I don't like the guy, I don't think that we want him harmed.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
30 Mar 09
It won't do him much good. His numbers are plummeting. He made the mistake of raising unreasonable expectations and now he can't deliver--nobody could! The world leaders who thought he would do so well are now criticizing him because he's making such a mess. Obama wants the world to follow his lead in bailouts and budget makeovers and they are aghast that he would want them to pursue such foolish monetary policies.
What a horrible shame...when Obama was elected I decided to support him but he's done nothing to deserve support. Our country is circling the drain.
@us2owls (1681)
• United States
31 Mar 09
Well todays the day - in he flies with all his butt kissing cronies at our expense. I am curious to see what he does when he meets the Queen. Will he expect her to kiss his hand. Going to be an interesting few days. I hope if anyone gives him a gift it is something he can't use - just like the one he gave Gordon Brown - and that is another man I CAN'T STAND.
@carolluvyou (460)
• United States
31 Mar 09
Instead of seeing it as strange or being cynical, look at it like this - regardless if its 5 or 500 staffers that are there to help him but forth a better image of our country, that is 500 people who have jobs, who earn a living to take care of their families, who contribute to the economy, who spend money that needs to be spent. How can that be a bad thing?
