This story about Obama’s entourage at the 2009 G-20 is evidence of what I was talking about earlier in terms of how our leaders have assembled trappings and habits more appropriate to monarchs. Indeed, it strikes me as a bit obscene:
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. (snip)
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.”
Obama needs the equivalent of an infantry rifle company for security in Europe? Is he afraid the Europeans will have a go at him?
Did Bush bring his own food and water with him? Just curious.
13 teleprompters? Huh?
Nothing is too good for our Barack.
I thought it was very cool that when David Cameron made a recent trip (was it to the US?) he flew commercial.
Certainly there is some level of acceptable security for the President that lies in between United Airlines and this level of extravagance.
And it is not really the money that is the issue here; it is about scaling back the imperial presidency.
[...] I noted earlier here and here, political leaders (the UK’s new PM excepted perhaps) live more like monarchs than [...]