The Obamas Go to India — Let Them Eat Cake
Legend holds that during one of the famines that swept across France during the reign of Louis XVI, his Queen, Marie Antoinette, upon being told that the peasants had no bread, replied, “Let them eat cake.”That phrase has acquired symbolic importance over the years when used to demonstrate the complete lack of concern and selfishness of the upper classes toward working people.
“Let them eat cake,” then, is an appropriate way to describe the current state visit of the Obama family to India and other nations in Asia.
Not since the days of Roman emperors has a head of state traveled with such pomp and grand expense. The entourage was transported on 40 airplanes, including 3 Boeing 747’s. The 3 presidential helicopters had to be disassembled, loaded on airplanes and reassembled in India. It took 6 armored cars to transport the presidential party on the ground when they were not occupying one of the 800 hotel rooms they rented, including the entire Taj Mahal hotel. That particular hotel, along with a couple of others, was the scene of a bloody terrorist attack in which 171 people were killed a few months ago. Thousands of Secret Service and other security personnel provided security for the president as he was watched by dedicated satellite 24 hours per day. The visit even required a fleet of ships to provide security off-shore.
The estimated cost of the 10-day trip for a bankrupt nation is $200 million per day.
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