PrintOctober 24, 2010
Marie Antoinette has nothing on the Obamas
Despite campaigning as a consensus-builder and something of a healer, perhaps the most accurate term we can use to describe Barack Obama's governing style is "in your face." The term seems to have originated in the United States in the 1970's, more than likely on the basketball court or in another sports venue.
Meaning aggressively or blatantly confrontational, the term accurately reflects the Obama mindset, as he peers down his nose from Mount Obamus to those who dare disagree with his policies or pronouncements.
From the legislative prestidigitation used to ram through the unpopular stimulus and Obamacare bills, to the racialist approach of the Holder Department of Justice and its stonewalling to block investigations into its malfeasance regarding the Uighurs, the department's employment of lawyers who represented Guantanamo terrorists , and its abandonment of the prosecution of Black Panthers over voting rights violations, B.O. and his minions remain determined to do as they please with America's money and resources, regardless of the will of the American people.
Nowhere is this in-your-face attitude more evident than in the Obama's lavish arrangements for their upcoming trip to Mumbai. Clearly this administration learned nothing from the public outcry over Michelle Obama's turn as Marie Antoinette re-incarnate on her last little junket to Spain. If you thought the flaunting FLOTUS dropping a cool half million on a vacation trip for 40 of her pals and 70 secret service agents was over-the-top, wait to you get a load of the Obama itinerary for the Mumbai junket: Suleiman the Magnificent would have been embarrassed by the luxury Mr. and Mrs. B.O. intend for themselves:
..the President's team has booked the entire Taj Mahal hotel, including 570 rooms, all banquets and restaurants. Since his security contingent and staff will comprise a huge number, 125 rooms at Taj President have also been booked, apart from 80 to 90 rooms each at the Grand Hyatt and Oberoi hotels. The NCPA, where the President is expected to meet representatives from the business community, has also been entirely booked.
....Obama's contingent is huge. There are two jumbo jets coming along with Air Force One, which will be flanked by security jets. There will be 30 to 40 secret service agents, who will arrive before him. The President's convoy has 45 cars, including the Lincoln Continental I* which the President travels.Since Obama will stay in a hotel that is on the sea-front, elaborate coastal security arrangements have been made by the U.S. Navy in consonance with the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. There will be U.S. naval ships, along with Indian vessels, patrolling the sea till about 330-km from the shore. This is to negate the possibility of a missile being fired from a distance.....The President will be accompanied by his chefs, not because he would not like to savor Indian cuisine, but to insure his food is not spiked.
When I saw the blurb describing the travel arrangements on-line, I was certain it was a parody or a spoof of some sort. As usual with this underwhelming excuse we have for a President, the joke is on the American people who are footing the tab for this Mumbai playtime for Obama and his cronies.
*The Economist may be in error, as the President normally travels in a Cadillac. Hat tip: Jason McNew
Ralph Alter is a regular contributor to The American Thinker.
Ralph Alter is a regular contributor to The American Thinker.
