Obama's inauguration set to be the most expensive in US history

guardian.co.uk ^ | January 14, 2009 | Ewen MacAskill

[Free ThinkerNY]

President Barack Obama's inauguration next week is set to be the most expensive ever, predicted to reach over $150m (£102m). This dwarfs the $42.3m spent on George Bush's inauguration in 2005 and the $33m spent on Bill Clinton's in 1993.

Part of the spending includes emergency funding announced by the White House on Tuesday to help with the soaring costs. Most of this new federal funding will be to deal with the huge influx of people, estimated 1.5 million to 2 million.

A White House statement said that President Bush "declared an emergency exists in the District of Columbia".

If there is snow, the costs will grow higher. The long-term forecast suggests there is a chance of snow on Sunday and again on the day of inauguration, on Tuesday.

Carole Florman, spokeswoman for the joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies, told the New York Daily News, which estimated the cost at $160m: "We're always very budget conscious. But we're sending a message to the entire world about our peaceful transition of power, and you don't want it to look like a schlock affair. It needs to be appropriate to the magnitude of events that it is."

[toldyou]

Scroll down and note speakers..

http://www.musliminauguralgala.com/

[BARLF]

First black (liberal) president

First half white president.

[TomasUSMC]

Larry Sinclair, obambi’s homosexual partner, will be sitting in the front row! Maybe waving a signed copy of his new book!

[Soothesayer]

“peaceful transition of power”

WTF!!!! Only a very corrupt socialist would talk like this.

So is this in contrast to the violent transition to more power that we get to look forward to?

[Polarik]

Economic meltdown? Housing crisis? Unemployment? Bailout of banks? What could be more important than making sure his inauguration soaks up as much money as possible.

[Piquaboy]

All that money spent and we get this arsehole.