Bad India Trip Numbers

We all have been had. The distorted story about the extravagant cost of the Obama family trip to India is a fabrication. The numbers are bogus.

It is believed that Michelle Bachman  started this notion by repeating  criticism that originated with an Indian news source. Whether she did or didn't doesn't change the fact that the story is someones partisan dream. Most Americans have had enough of Obama and his administration. They quickly jump at negative stories like this one because it reinforces their already bad opinion. Sorry folks, it's just not the thing to do.

This trip will be expensive just like other Presidential trips have been in the past.

1.   The protocol is ridiculous and needs to be scaled back.

2.  The military presence on the spot is partly redundant as the host nation has abundant reasons to protect our travelling President and family.

3.   The hundreds and hundreds of pundits and media people should be reduced to about 100 media representatives who would pool their reports. 

4.  It is, or at least has been in the past, important for our President to represent America's mighty strength, and to show the world some "pomp and circumstance" surrounding official visits.

5.  At the same time our own citizens are hurting right now and common sense would suggest that seeking a little economy would be more acceptable than ostentatious and unnecessary luxuries.

Anyway, forget the 200 million dollars a day.   Wrap your mind around the more normal figure of perhaps 10 to 30 million dollars a day. Let's all, TEA Parties, Conservatives, and everybody else - tell the truth.

Dixon

Reference #1
"But wait: $200 million a day? Snopes.com says that the $200 million figure, which has been picked up by right-wing blogs, is "probably false." Snopes traced the rumor back to an anonymous Indian government official, quoted in a Press Trust of India article published on Tuesday. Factcheck.org calls the claim "highly doubtful," and points out that the entire war in Afghanistan currently costs about $190 million a day (h/t AJC)."

"The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality. Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated," Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told TPM in an e-mail."