Obama battle bus!

[Gob]

In British elections we're used to what we call "battle buses", cheerfully painted wagons, festooned with party slogans and colours.

But his vehicle for the trip through the rural parts of three Midwestern states looks like it really is heading for a battle.

Big, blocky, black, with painted-out windows, it looks more like a police mortuary van than a symbol of hope arriving on your street.



It is a ponderous business campaigning when you are president, all that need for protection and the weight of office on your shoulders.

Two years in, the problems you inherited are now the problems you own. Part of Obama's message is that it is not his recession, not his fault. It's the blame game.

In a nutshell, stripped of rhetoric, this is what he is saying on the campaign trail:

President George Bush caused America's huge debt by running up the bills for two wars on credit
Growth is returning to the economy but America's recovery has been damaged by accidents, such as the Japanese earthquake, that no-one could have forseen or prevented
He has plenty of ideas to bring jobs back, but Republicans in Congress who put point-scoring before their country are blocking them

Mr Obama's eyes are, of course, keenly focused on next November's election. But he's only talking about this September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14536517

[dales]

Addendumb:

[Liberty1]

The Magical Misery Tour

[Liberty1]

A spin-off of my previous statement

The Tragical Misery Tour.

Featuring such well known hits as :

1 Taxman
2. The Tool on the Hill
3. With A Little Help From My Union Friends
4. All You Need is Cash
5. Back in the U.S.S.A.
6. Can’t Buy Me Votes
7. Twist and Pout
8. She Loves Her
9. Maxwell’s Silver Teleprompter
10. While My Country Gently Weeps
11. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Soros
12. Norwegian Wood-Hugger
13. Boy, You’re Gonna Carry That Debt
14. And I Love Me
15. You’ve Got to Hide Your Past Away
16. Eight Speeches a Week
17. Pebble Beach Golf Forever
18. Can Buy Me Love
19. All You Need is Union Thugs
20. Pretty Lame
21. Happiness Is A Banned Gun
22. Barry Your’re A Rich Man
23. Not Getting Better
24. O-Ba-Me, O-Ba-Ma
25. Obowdown, Obama (Laughs Go on, Brah)
26. I Said, I Said
27. Drive My Czar
28. Please Praise Me
29. Hey Jew
30. We Can’t Work It Out
31. I am The Marxist
32. I’ll Follow The One
33. Help! (I need your money)
Help! (not just some of your money)
Help! (I need all of your money – NOW)
34. I’m A Loser
35. I Wanna Hold You Down
36. I Wanna Hold Your Wallet
37. Nowhere Plan
38. Paper Trail Hider
39. Lucy in the Sky With Foodstamps
40. I Want To Sell You
41. I’m Fixing A Poll
42. I Saw Me Standing There
43. It’s Getting Bitter

[Econoline]

I'm surprised that no one here has yet pointed out that the bus chassis that this vehicle was built on came from a Canadian manufacturer:

The President's bus is a Canadian built Prevost Model VIP H3-45... The Identical model was used by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.


The Bush and Obama Administrations chose Prevost because no US Bus manufacturer was able to meet spec requirements. GM Coach and Truck Division is long gone. MCI doesn't build anything big enough.

Sarah Palin's bus was also a Prevost - which I find hilarious because she commented "This bus represents everything that's great about America." - Yeah - except where it was built. Michele Bachmann is also campaigning in a Canadian-Built Prevost:



John McCain's good ol' "Straight Talk Express" bus was also a Canadian Prevost VIP H3-45 - Identical in size to the President's.



Before you have a hissy-fit about its color, The President's bus, as is his limousine, is painted in "RAM" in accordance with directives of the Secret Service. RAM stands for "Radar Absorbent Material" which in this case are ferrofluidic and non-magnetic type substances that reduce the reflection of electromagnetic waves. The exact material and thickness of RAM coatings is classified by the military. Its purpose is to absorb radiated energy from a ground or air based radar station into the coating and convert it to heat rather than reflect it back.

From here (4th post down)

* ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' * ' *

Oh, and liberty 1...I was gonna rag on you for the lame sense of "humor" displayed in the above list, but hey, what the hell...

I'll let that go and just ask you: In what specific way(s) is your own life more miserable than it was in January 2009? (Just curious. Really.)

[dgs49]

Come on, Econoline, some of that stuff was funny, regardless of your political leanings.

Our beloved President's policies (which I like to think of as emanating from Barry & the Progressives [in Congress]) have,

Increased the national debt to an extent never before even imagined, largely to pay POLITICAL debts and ensure the continued support of government workers (at all levels) and the 7 or so percent of Americans who are members of labor unions;

Delayed and indeed attacked any efforts to deal realistically with Entitlement Reform;

Demonized success, and blamed "The Rich" for the mountainous deficits he hath wrought, thus contributing to the sense of social envy like the one that caused - and is continuing to cause - envy and race-based rioting in England, Philadelphia, Detroit, etc.

Stunned America's banks and corporations into hoarding money through an overt campaign to shackle every profit-making business with unpredictable healthcare and regulatory compliance costs, thus delaying the long-awaited recovery from the "Bush" recession.

Have any individuals been made miserable by these policies and initiatives? Probably not that they are aware of. How do you measure the tens of thousands of people who might have found jobs or better jobs as the economy recovered, who are still sitting around the house?

I guess it's about the same as counting the jobs "saved" that Barry likes so much to talk about.

[Andrew D]

And then there are the facts.

The awful, terrible, horrible facts.

The facts that send right-wingers into paroxysms of infantility.

Fact: Republican economic "policies" got us into this mess.

Fact: The leaders of the Republican party do not want an economic recovery -- at least, not until after the 2012 elections -- and have been doing their utmost to sabotage every attempt at one.

Acknowledge those facts, and deal with them; have some hope of generating sensible public-policy positions. Deny those facts, an ignore them; have no hope of generating sensible public-policy positions.

[Long Run]

The reason for the president's bus rather than a bus festooned with candidate tags is that this was an official business trip, rather than a campaign trip -- that's the official line anyway.

The last two posts from DGs and Andrew is what should really be the debate (and ultimately will be debated), rather than the sideshow stuff we keep ourselves distracted with.

And I agree that some of Liberty1's lampoons are pretty funny.

[Jarlaxle]

Serious question: are any highway coaches still built in the US? I used to drive them, and the only one I recall being US-built was a GMC PD4106 built when John Kennedy was in the White House. The others came from canada (Prevost, MCI) or Europe (Setra, VanHool).

Incidentally, that 4106 is still in service, earning it's keep with over 3,000,000 miles.

[Econoline]

I don't think so, Jarl...I had to look it up, since I always thought of MCI as a US company, with their headquarters in the Chicago area (Schaumburg, IL). Most of, or maybe all, of their bus production is indeed in Canada; though MCI does have a plant in Pembina, North Dakota, I'm not sure how much (if any) actual production takes place there. GMC Truck and Coach closed their Pontiac, Michigan plant (which built the bus you drove) in 1980. That date was somewhat surprising, considering how many of those buses (and motorhome conversions) I still see on the road.

[Jarlaxle]

I recall seeing that GM built their coaches for a life of 50 years and 5-7,000,000 miles. But the 4106 I drove actually PREDATED the ones in your link! (I recall it was a 1963.)

[loCAtek]

Before you have a hissy-fit about its color, The President's bus, as is his limousine, is painted in "RAM" in accordance with directives of the Secret Service. RAM stands for "Radar Absorbent Material" which in this case are ferrofluidic and non-magnetic type substances that reduce the reflection of electromagnetic waves. The exact material and thickness of RAM coatings is classified by the military. Its purpose is to absorb radiated energy from a ground or air based radar station into the coating and convert it to heat rather than reflect it back.

From here (4th post down)

Okay, but Bush et al, painted over that;



Is Barry rolling black-on-black?

[Econoline]

The difference is that all previous campaign buses were leased from private companies and returned to those companies after the campaign was over. Those buses had to be upgraded by the Secret Service for better security and communications and then stripped back to their previous condition after use. But apparently earlier this year (citing security concerns) the Secret Service contracted to buy and pay for two buses, built to their own specs and owned by the U.S. government. And yes, the eventual Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be, will get to use one, too.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/18 ... s-20110818

[Liberty1]

I'm surprised that no one here has yet pointed out that the bus chassis that this vehicle was built on came from a Canadian manufacturer:

Considering no one in the US rides a bus, unless your in grade school, there is no reason for any US manufacturers to build them. Doesn't really bother me.

Oh, and liberty 1...I was gonna rag on you for the lame sense of "humor" displayed in the above list, but hey, what the hell...

I thought it was pretty damn funny, at least some around here have a sense of humor.

All humor is based in truth, must be why it bothers you.

I'll let that go and just ask you: In what specific way(s) is your own life more miserable than it was in January 2009? (Just curious. Really.)

For me personally, it hasn't affected me in any real way. First I've worked my way into a position at work where I am classified as a "key employee". Second, I've always lived my life where I didn't want anything from anyone else, unless I earned it. So anything the government does not related to work, I do my best to avoid.

However, I know quite a few people that have been affected. With the uncertainty in the new admnistration, we began hiring contract engineers back in 09' instead of full timers. After BO cancelled the Constilation program last year, we let all those folks go, about 25 to 30 of them. Likewise about 1100 at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville were laid off.

A very good friend of mine has been out of work since mid 09', well over 2 years now. She's been selling a lot of her stuff on ebay, and we've been giving her some things to do the same. She is a partial land owner of property in Miss that she inherited and she convinced the others to sell some timber a while back. Otherwise she'd be homeless alreaady.

[dales]

Considering no one in the US rides a bus, unless your<sic> in grade school, there is no reason for any US manufacturers to build them. Doesn't really bother me.

Gillig LLC.

http://www.gillig.com/

[Jarlaxle]

Gillig does not build highway coaches! The only US-built coach buses are the MCI's assembled in North Dakota.

[dales]

I know that.

Relax, dude.

[oldr_n_wsr]

In what specific way(s) is your own life more miserable than it was in January 2009? (Just curious. Really.)

Had a job in Feb 09 until Feb 2011. Been out since. Been on about 5 or 6 interviews and still no job. And the jobs that I applied for are still being advertised. You can't tell my no one is qualified out there. The companies are just resume stocking and waiting to see what the economy does. If the gov looks at the advertisements, they might say there are jobs out there just no one with the right qualifications. To which I say bullshit. The companies are advertising but are not hiring. Even engineering college grads (aka cheaper than us old timers) are getting nowhere in the market.

I have friends/collegues in companies that are advertising and there is more than one job that I am a perfect fit for but they are not hiring. My inside people told me they are not really hiring. They are playing the wait and see game.