Obama and the G20 Summit: 500 Strong Superpower Entourage, Including “The Beast”

Obama with Secret Service contingent

It’s the Brits who are abuzz about the Obama “500 strong” entourage arriving tomorrow in the UK, for the upcoming G20 Summit in London, complete with a staff of 200 U.S. Secret Service, armoured limos, decoy helicopters, a six doctor medical team and a special armored plated limo nicknamed “The Beast”.

According to the Brit tabloid, The Guardian, Brits will get to see firsthand, the difference between Obama the politician, when he last visited the UK during the election, and Obama on his first official trip as President.

Obama in London, in front of Number 10 Downing Street, July 2008, while running for President

The last visit occurred back in July was called “low key” by the Brit press:

United States presidential contender Barack Obama is in London on the last leg of his international tour.

Senator Obama is due to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, and former prime minister Tony Blair, who is now the international Middle East envoy.

Senator Obama’s London visit is deliberately being kept low key, a contrast to the public adulation he received in Berlin and Paris.

In London even the handshake with Mr Brown takes place inside Downing Street.

Officials insist Britain remains the United States’ most important European ally.

The Downing Street talks are expected to range wide, covering Iran, Iraq, the rest of the Middle East, as well as climate change and worries about fuel and food price rises.
-BBC News

Brits were last abuzz about “image” and Obama as the head of the sole superpower state who gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of classical movies when Brown recently visited the U.S., while Gordon arrived bearing several very thoughtful gifts for Obama and his family:

From the Daily Mail:

“The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet’s sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In addition, Mr Brown and his wife showered gifts on the Obama children giving Sasha and Malia an outfit each from Topshop and six children’s books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John.”

Obama’s Armour plated Cadillac limo, “The Beast”

Not only will a 500 support staff wing it with the President, but so will a special armor plated limo nicknamed “The Beast” which cost $300,000, and also comes with special features such as night vision cameras, tear gas cannon, and oxygen tanks. For more info on “The Beast” see “Obama’s Presidential Limo Will Be a ‘Rolling Tank With Windows”.

“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.”
Unnamed White House Official

So while the Beast has his own American brand of “superpower” gas, Obama won’t have to “drink” British water, nor eat British food, if he so chooses. Nor, if the occasion arises, will he nor members of his entourage have to rely on the care of the national health care services.

What’s also being talked about is whether Obama’s high rated “popularity” with European masses will get them to “follow his lead” regarding the “rescuing the economy” or Obama’s newest tactics in Afghanistan at the G20 Summit being held in London.

Now, Mr. Obama’s about to embark on a return trip to Europe, his first overseas trip since taking office, and his sales pitch has shifted due to the current conditions – the global economic meltdown and the war in Afghanistan.

The president’s challenge? To take advantage of the Europeans’ high regard for him and to persuade them to follow his lead on rescuing the economy and to offer more help with the war in Afghanistan.

And the burning question: Can Mr. Obama’s popularity in Europe translate into results?

First up, the president will attend the Group of 20 summit in London, where he’ll try to convince world leaders that they should emulate the United States by enacting economic stimulus and financial bailout plans in their own countries.
–CBS News

Yet, while Obama is rated by the media as being “popular” with the overseas masses, in particular in Europe, the entourage and the vast amount of protective gear tells a “different” story:

“Obama will start his first presidential visit to Europe when he steps down from the US presidential jet, Air Force One, at Stansted airport on Tuesday. The Boeing 747-200B is fitted with its own gym, electronic defence units and shielding to protect its complex communication devices from radiation from nuclear blasts. Among the officials on the flight will be a military officer carrying America’s nuclear missile launch codes.

Obama will then be flown to central London in a VH-3D helicopter known as Marine One. Again, high-tech security will dominate his journey. Marine One is fitted with flares that can be fired to confuse heat-seeking missiles and always flies in groups containing several identical decoy helicopters.”

Not only does the President have a supershielded plane and heavily armored limo, there are also 200 Secret Service agents assigned to this trip as well as “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”.

As for First Lady, Michele Obama, her staff is far more streamlined, with only eight, which includes a secretary, press officer, and bodyguards.

By LBG

Image – Obama in London, July 2008
Image – Obama with Secret Service

Tags: 500, armored limo, G20 Summit, London, Obama, secret service, staff, the beast