Obama Bus Tour: Information Emerges of President's $1.1M Vehicle
President Barack Obama is touring across states in the Midwest in a brand new $1.1 million bus purchased by the Secret Service.
Associated Press describes the vehicle as “an impenetrable-looking conveyance the size of a cross-country Greyhound.”
The vehicle is described as being completely black, and includes dark tinted windows with flashing blue and red lights.
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Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan has said that the bus would not solely be used to transport the President, and that it will be used by other dignitaries in the future for traveling, according to AP.
He stated that the agency needed buses such as this one, since they were constantly leasing them in the past and retrofitting them to protect traveling politicians.
This bus is one of two that the Secret Service purchased specifically for transporting the President and eventually for accommodating the Republican presidential candidate and visiting dignitaries.
The agency did not reveal any more specifics on the bus, but has said that its features were similar to those on “The Beast,” the presidents modified limo, which is equipped with bulletproof glass that can withstand a rocket-propelled grenade or a chemical attack.
President Obama is traveling on this bus as part of a tour that will take him through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, three states he won in the 2008 election.
This tour marks the first time the President has had an opportunity to travel and speak to voters, since he spent most of the summer in Washington D.C. engaged in partisan negotiations on the nation’s debt crisis.
Minnesota voters have given Obama a warm welcome, however it has been reported that Iowa was not as easy to please.
Iowa voters demanded to know why the president compromised on principles important to Democrats, and how he was going to handle his stern Republican opponents.
In response to the crowd, the president pledged to present a specific jobs plan to Congress when lawmakers return in September.
“And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people and the choice will be very stark and very clear,” the President said.
The bus tour will wrap on Wednesday in Illinois, and the President will return to Washington after.
He is set to fly to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on Thursday with his family for their annual summer vacation.
