Rob Port
Say Anything
8/28/2011
To facilitate Obama’s “bus tour” of midwest America, the Secret Service bought two large buses and set about customizing them to fit the security needs of the president. The buses sport bulletproof black windows, puncture-proof tires, five-inch thick doors, and their own oxygen supplies (and probably an assortment of other goodies the Secret Service is keeping classified for obvious reasons).
And the Secret Service had to train agents specially to drive them. “Agents will be taught to back up at very high rates of speed using just the mirrors on either side,” says Ronald Kessler, author of In The President’s Secret Service. “It really takes guts to do that.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that the buses were necessary because “The president needs to get out in the country and meet with real folks in real places.”
“A plane [the size of Air Force One] is hard to get into small communities.”
But here’s the thing: Apparently President Obama only rode the buses for a couple of miles at a time, spending the rest of the time flying from community to community in Air Force One…
The article continues at Say Anything.
