Obama Paloozza

From the Guardian:

Britain will get its first chance to see Barack Obama this week when a White House cavalcade - complete with armoured limousines, helicopters, 200 US secret service staff and a six-doctor medical team - sweeps into the UK.

Obama will fly into London for his first visit to the UK as president of the United States on Tuesday to take part in the G20 summit in the capital's Docklands area. He will not be travelling light.

More than 500 officials and staff will accompany the president on his tour this week - along with a mass of high-tech security equipment, including the $300,000 presidential limousine, known as The Beast. Fitted with night-vision camera, reinforced steel plating, tear- gas cannon and oxygen tanks, the vehicle is the ultimate in heavy armoured transport.

In addition, a team from the White House kitchen will travel with the president to prepare his food. As one official put it: "When the president travels, the White House travels with him, right down to the car he drives, the water he drinks, the gasoline he uses, the food he eats. America is still the sole superpower and the president must have the ability to handle any crisis, anywhere, any time."

Read the whole article and you'll be wondering what in the world is going on. Did Bush travel like this? With 6 doctors, personal chefs, 200 Secret Service, cases of water, decoy helicopters and a vehicle called The Beast? Seriously, the cost of this trip could probably feed an entire third world country for a year. Isn't this disgustingly over the top? At a time when our economy is failing, jobs are disappearing, people have to choose between paying for their own health insurance or paying their mortgage? Medicine or food?

For me, the definition of a leader is one who inspires others by his or her own actions. Obama is nothing but a grandiose, narcissistic empty suit who holds himself in such high esteem that he feels he isn't accountable to anyone, least of all the people of the United States. After all, we are only the ones footing the bill.