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 ...
And don't forget the hookers!
I’m not sure he’s going to want to give up this opulent lifestyle.
coup
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.
Obama spent $1.4 **BILLION** on vacations is 2012 ALONE:
Gee, shouldn't someone tell Baraq?
“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.
“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?
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?
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).
Every time you see him he’s gnawing away on gum like a street walker. Lipstick on a pig.
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.
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?
As a conservative, I believe they should be doing a lot less work with exponentially fewer responsibilities. At much lower expense to us.
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.
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.
Obama needs to check Hotels.com for the best price of hotel rooms. I mean if he wanted to save money for us taxpayers.
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.
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.
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.
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