Obama’s Bleak Misery Tour

photo via Weasel Zippers.

Okay, Obama’s “Magical Misery Tour” bus is not at all how I pictured it.

Actually, Obama has two new buses to use on his 3-day Midwest bus trip, costing taxpayers $1.1 million*:

“We have not been satisfied with the level of protection offered by leased buses,” said a Secret Service official.

Another official said the buses cost the service $1.1-million and are of a size and make the Secret Service finds most suitable for its equipment and protective requirements.

It’s only fitting that they would be black,  stark and bleak – depressing and grim – the complete opposite of his bright hopey-changey 2008 campaign bus, the perfect symbols for a President swamped with nothing but bad news, as a result of his own bad policies.

As Mr. Obama is increasingly overwhelmed by events, as he and his presidency shrink before our eyes, his worst tendencies are being exacerbated, his narcissism further exposed, his anger at an unaccommodating world more pronounced. A man of supreme self-regard is watching things crumble before his eyes. He is obviously not well equipped to process any of this. It is enough for one to feel, if only for a moment, some pity for Mr. Obama. These are not easy days for him, and certainly not for his country.

The Romney camp pounced on the opportunity to use the stunningly bad optics against the Campaigner in Chief.

ABC reported:

A new web video and harsh criticism emerged from the Mitt Romney camp today as President Barack Obama launched his three-day bus tour that will make stops in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.

Dubbing the president’s trip the “Magical Misery bus tour,” Romney said in a statement that “it is unlikely President Obama will speak with unemployed Americans, to near-bankrupt business owners, or to families struggling to survive in this economy.”

The RNC is also jumping on the opportunity to capitalize on Obama’s Misery tour bus folly:

The Republican National Committee will launch a “grassroots, media and on-the-ground” effort during President Barack Obama’s bus tour through the Midwest this week, The Daily Caller has learned. The RNC has dubbed the trip the “Debt-End Bus Tour,” or “DEBT.”

RNC chairman Reince Priebus will hold a press conference on Monday with Minnesota GOP chair Tony Sutton in Cannon Falls, Minn. — the first stop on the President’s tour — to draw attention to the slow-growing U.S. economy. …

In a guide the RNC plans to hand out Monday morning, it slams Obama’s economic policies and criticizes him for taking a so-called non-campaign trip without producing a plan to deal with the country’s debt.

In the guide, the RNC calls President Obama’s debt plan “A Big Ol’ Hunk of Nothing on Two Thick Slices of Nada.”

Priebus “came out swinging” at the “campaigner in Chief” for his “joke of a bus tour”  paid for by taxpayers in this Fox interview:

  With Obama’s approval rating at a historic low of 39% in the latest Gallup poll,  it’s hard to see how this misery tour at taxpayer expense could in any way help him. Especially given the fact that, the more he talks, the more his poll numbers go down.

In a play for 38 percent, Obama embarks today on a three day bus tour, complete with town hall meetings. Then, in a move apparently planned by his campaign team to help him out, he sets out for a ten day vacation.

Watch his numbers start to improve.

I was gonna say —when he stays away from the cameras, his numbers do seem to improve.

***

*EACH. I wasn’t sure about that when I first posted, so I purposely didn’t specify. But, it’s 1.1 million each according to CNN White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar: The President’s beastly bus

In the past, the Secret Service has leased buses, adding protective armor and advanced communications capabilities that must be stripped from the buses to restore them to their original condition before they are returned. It was an expensive practice, costing tens of thousands of dollars per month, Donovan said, and the Secret Service expects the new buses will ultimately save money over time.

So how pimped is this ride? We don’t know. The Secret Service won’t reveal details and so far members of the press have yet to sneak a peek inside.

No, wait! Fortunately for us, Doug Ross’s indefatigable cub reporter, Biff Spackle, was able to get his hands on the layout for the “Tragical Misery Tour Bus”, and has this exclusive.

Linked by Doug Ross in Larwyn’s Links, thanks!