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So where do the G20 chiefs sleep? Obama books £1,370 presidential suite,...
Daily Mail (Australia/UK) ^ | 12th November 2014 | John Hutchinson

Posted on 11/11/2014 4:47:28 PM PST by naturalman1975

Being a world leader is a tiring and demanding job.

So it's no surprise that having to travel around the globe on a regular basis, heads of state like to enjoy a bit of luxury on their 'down time'.

Brisbane, Australia, is the host city for this weekend's G20, with US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin, among others, all staying in the Queensland city.

And it is Obama who has set the bar with his hotel booking this year.

The US President will base himself at the £1,370 (AUS$2,500) a night Marriott Hotel on Queen Street.

The building comprises of 28 floors of 263 rooms, four of which are suites. There are also 10 meeting rooms, 7,750 sq ft of total meeting space.

A buffet breakfast will set you back £19 (AUS$35). But for the same price Obama might want to feel 'more at home' and opt for the full American breakfast.

His room, rather aptly, is the presidential suite on the top floor, with a king size bed and 131 square metres of room to play with. Panoramic views of Brisbane River should de-stress him after his meetings.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
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To: Timber Rattler
OK, and what about all the other rooms at that hotel booked for White House staff and the Secret Service. How much extra will that cost?

And don't forget the hookers!

21 posted on 11/11/2014 5:13:33 PM PST by Brandonmark (There is still hope for our country! 11.04.2014 - DAY OF RENEWAL)
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To: MeshugeMikey

I’m not sure he’s going to want to give up this opulent lifestyle.


22 posted on 11/11/2014 5:14:44 PM PST by KittyKares (.)
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To: MeshugeMikey

coup


23 posted on 11/11/2014 5:15:06 PM PST by LeoWindhorse
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To: naturalman1975

I know Canberra is picking up most of the cost eg security, police for the summit. Who is paying for accommodation? I’m assuming Canberra too, not QLD.


24 posted on 11/11/2014 5:17:33 PM PST by odds
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To: gaijin

Obama spent $1.4 **BILLION** on vacations is 2012 ALONE:

http://www.inquisitr.com/345745/taxpayers-fronted-1-4-billion-for-president-obamas-comforts-last-year-according-to-new-book/


25 posted on 11/11/2014 5:19:50 PM PST by gaijin
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To: naturalman1975
Being a world leader is a tiring and demanding job.

Gee, shouldn't someone tell Baraq?

26 posted on 11/11/2014 5:19:52 PM PST by Colonel_Flagg ("Compromise" means you've already decided you lost.)
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To: naturalman1975

“but also because they do”

So they deserve luxury travel “because they do?”. That doesn’t really make sense?

“work extremely hard and basically never stop working even during supposed down time.”

And how does that indicate they deserve anything more than a businessman?

“And I want the best people possible seeking these roles - and the best people possible tend to be people who could be earning a lot more and living a much better lifestyle in private industry.”

How’s that working out for the world now? As far as national prestige, they should be showing some respect for the poor sod who lifetime of taxes is paying for one political fun trip. As for all that hard work, i’m simply not buying it.
They don’t put in half the work of any normal person, and they live lives that would make mad king Ludwig blush.

It needs to stop. Not so long ago the presidency was nothing like a monarch, and that was a very good thing.


27 posted on 11/11/2014 5:20:37 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: naturalman1975

“Why the change? September 11, 2001. Prime Minister John Howard was in the US that day - in Washington DC, specifically - for commemorations of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. He wound up being trapped in America because of the grounding of all commercial passenger flights. Eventually the US Air Force flew him home on one of your VIP planes.

It was not a good situation from a security or governance situation. Our Prime Minister was out of the country and we had no direct control of getting him home.”

SO Howard was in DC for a ceremonial party of a treaty signed 50 years ago. And he was flown home on a VIP Gulfstream or some such. OH the humanity! Does anyone seriously think he was freaking out that he couldn’t get home?
And in the era of modern communications, so what if he was not physically in Australia?

I would note that the trip was kind of pomp and silliness, and that Australia managed to somehow survive him being held hostage in America. How did his royal fluffers and hairstylists get home? See what I mean?


28 posted on 11/11/2014 5:26:52 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: DesertRhino

I was at the CPAC Reagan Dinner many Years ago.

The Wine they served was “Two Buck Chuck”. When I saw the Wine, I remarked that this must be a Conservative Event.

The guy sitting next to me, the Assistant Secretary of the Army at the time said, this is Virginia, because of the Taxes here it’s actually “Three Buck Chuck”.

I wonder, do the Obama’s drink Two Buck Chuck or Ripple?


29 posted on 11/11/2014 5:26:57 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (11/04/14, the day people finally realized that their Dictator is just a Dick..)
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To: DesertRhino
So they deserve luxury travel “because they do?”. That doesn’t really make sense?

If you read what I wrote, entirely, it does - although I admit the section in parentheses wound up longer than I intended it to, and so my meaning became less clear.

Omit the parenthetical comment, and you have:

but also because they do work extremely hard and basically never stop working even during supposed down time.

That's my argument - and you may disagree with it, but I believe it does make sense from a grammatical point of view at least.

And how does that indicate they deserve anything more than a businessman?

It doesn't - if you compare them to the typical CEO of a large company who are the people who normally occupy these suites.

How’s that working out for the world now? As far as national prestige, they should be showing some respect for the poor sod who lifetime of taxes is paying for one political fun trip. As for all that hard work, i’m simply not buying it.

Well, I buy it. I've worked alongside some of these VIPs (part of my military service had me working in the diplomatic field, and handling issues of protocol that brought me into contact with some very senior people at times, and those who worked with others. I was quite astonished at how hard people like Cabinet Secretaries, and Heads of Government worked - I'm not going to name specific people, but I am talking about some of the type of people relevant here).

30 posted on 11/11/2014 5:28:43 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975

Every time you see him he’s gnawing away on gum like a street walker. Lipstick on a pig.


31 posted on 11/11/2014 5:33:56 PM PST by pnut22
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To: naturalman1975

I’m ok with this. He’s the president of the United States. I just don’t like it when Mooch flys separately to vacation or takes 300 people to Europe for shopping.


32 posted on 11/11/2014 5:50:25 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: gaijin

The Obama’s will have a very hard adjustment when they can’t pay for all their lavishness out of the US Treasury Obama ATM machine. By the way, where has the Mooch been since the election?


33 posted on 11/11/2014 5:51:01 PM PST by dandiegirl
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To: naturalman1975

As a conservative, I believe they should be doing a lot less work with exponentially fewer responsibilities. At much lower expense to us.


34 posted on 11/11/2014 5:54:32 PM PST by all the best
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To: DesertRhino

They are also waited on hand and foot, something a typical businessman doesn’t have the luxury of. Our USA leaders are supposed to be regular people like the rest of us. We all work hard. I’m not against a nice hotel for them but geesh.


35 posted on 11/11/2014 5:55:43 PM PST by dandiegirl
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To: DesertRhino
SO Howard was in DC for a ceremonial party of a treaty signed 50 years ago.

And for talks with the US government.

And incidentally that treaty was activated by Mr Howard for the first time on September 12th, 2001 in response to the attacks on the United States. Yes, the treaty was fifty years old - but it is also a large part of the reason why Australian servicemen have been fighting and dying in American lead wars for the last 13 years because the alliance actually matters now.

Does anyone seriously think he was freaking out that he couldn’t get home?

No, he wasn't. But a lot of people here were nervous about the situation. You may not appreciate it, but people around the world were worried that the September 11 attacks were part of even larger plans. We actually do have intelligence information that in the original planning for those attacks, consideration was given by Al Qaeda and its fellows, to attacking targets in a number of US allies, including Australia - which they despised not just as a US ally (reason enough in their eyes) but because of the Australian lead intervention in East Timor that had been ongoing since 1999 - which John Howard was responsible for. Having him out of the country and away from proper protection and being unable to bring him home was considered a significant crisis.

And in the era of modern communications, so what if he was not physically in Australia?

Besides anything else, legal and constitutional issues. While the Prime Minister is Australia's Head of Government, constitutionally, executive power in Australia is vested in a body called the Federal Executive Council. This consists of the Governor General, the Prime Minister, all current and former Government Ministers, and all former and current Parliamentary Secretaries. Significant decisions of the Australian government (such as decisions involving the defence of Australia) have to be taken by the Federal Executive Council - or more accurately a quorum of it. Only a person who is physically present can be part of that quorum.

You can't be part of it via communications systems - so getting the Prime Minister back to Australia in a situation was getting ready to take decisions that could lead to war is actually pretty important, if the Prime Minister is the one who is going to take the decision.

(The Federal Executive Council can act without the Prime Minister - but it's something that they would do only in the very, very serious situation where no delay could be tolerated under any circumstances - like an actual invasion, or nuclear attack. As serious as September 11 was, it could wait a day or so for the PM to come back - but if something else had happened - like a similar attack in Australia, would anybody have dared to issue something like a shootdown order if needed, while the Prime Minister was away... that's the issue.) You saw in America what happened when Reagan was shot, and nobody seemed to understand who was really in charge. You want to avoid that type of confusion in a crisis. And that meant getting the Prime Minister home.

So we solve that problem by making sure he has a plane with state of the art communications equipment that we have control of, ready to bring him home as soon as possible in an emergency. We didn't do that prior to September 11, because just like so many other people, we'd become complacent about the threats that did exist.

36 posted on 11/11/2014 5:59:41 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975

Obama needs to check Hotels.com for the best price of hotel rooms. I mean if he wanted to save money for us taxpayers.


37 posted on 11/11/2014 6:06:01 PM PST by ExCTCitizen (I'm ExCTCitizen and I approve this reply. If it does offend Libs, I'm NOT sorry...)
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To: gaijin
Expensive massages, top shelf vodka and five-star hotels: First Lady accused of spending $10m in public money on her vacations

And that story was from 2011. Since then, she has spent at least another $20 million.

And they went after Imelda Marcos for having lotsa shoes.

I wonder how much taxpayer money has gone to hair straighter, wigs, laser eyebrow and mustache removal, and skin bleach.

38 posted on 11/11/2014 6:21:30 PM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: naturalman1975

any handle on the size of the entourage each president has with them??

Two bits Obama’s traveling staff is twice the size of the next.


39 posted on 11/11/2014 6:23:08 PM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: Timber Rattler

Only certain hotels provide the level of security required for presidents. So they have to go where they can be protected. That’s just how it is.

Booking the rest of the staff into the same hotel is routine. They have to be protected too.


40 posted on 11/11/2014 6:26:41 PM PST by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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