Haven't the Obamas heard there is an economic crisis going on? Bread and circuses (see video below). All this pomp for a pompous ass.
First Lady Michelle Obama boarded the famed aircraft Tuesday in a jacket by Thakoon and strutted off at Stansted Airport (outside of London) with her husband President Barack Obama, in a brilliant Jason Wu.
Did she emerge in the same rags? That's for the little people! She may have boarded in Thakoon, but she emerged in Wu. Woo hoo.
The New York Times was coming (literally): Coming and Going By Cathy Horn
Left, Charles Dharapak/Associated Press; right, Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press Left, President Obama and Michelle Obama walk toward Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Right, the couple arrive near London.
Michelle Obama boarded Air Force One this morning wearing a white Thakoon coat and a black Michael Kors dress, and stepped off, a few hours later in London, dressed in a vivid yellow Jason Wu. She looked great in both time zones but the Thakoon coat, with black trim, was only seen between the White House lawn and the plane. And then she changed. I wonder if the twilight hour in London had something to do with the choice of color. A reference to the Inaugural lemongrass yellow? From prim white to rock star Michelle?
The Times is quivering. And Celebuzz says:
Wu, who designed her inaugural gown, did Mrs. Obama proud. The chartreuse, short-sleeved number is perfectly complimented by a studded Alaïa belt (which the President has a thought or two on).
We wait with bated breath to see future looks (and diplomacy!) from their trek.
Bated breath indeed. Yesterday, I gave you a glimpse of the gluttony and power mad excesses of the Obamas' trip to England to give the Queen an..................ipod. (Seriously).
Among the laundry list of dear leader's O-luxury must haves (see below), Barack brought his personal chef, 25 teleprompters (TOTUS), and his basketball playing bud, Reggie Love, his personal assistant and closest companion on the road. Love shoots hoops with him on the basketball court and watches sports with him on the television at night in his hotel suite. Perverse.
While America's economy is flash flushed by the transformational socialist in chief, no expense was spared for this megalomaniac. Can you imagine if a Republican president? ......Fuggedabouddit.
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.
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.
[...]
It also offers a brief break from dealing with domestic woes, where Obama's popularity has been slipping slightly in the face of the scandal over AIG bonuses and political splits over his huge proposed budget. Holding high-powered meetings with world leaders will allow Obama to remind Americans how much the rest of the world still admires him. It will also be good for the leaders who meet him as they play to domestic audiences. "Personally, I think every one of those leaders wants to sit down and get a photo opportunity with Obama," said Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "The mere fact that he is the new president has still got something special about it abroad."
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.
The Beast indeed, and I don't mean the car. More here.
King Hussein loves chaos -- check out these financial fools. These are O-bots.
