"As President ... we will put government data online ..." - President Obama
If you haven't already heard, President Obama will be taking a 10-day trip to India during this month. The hot-button issue as of now is the alleged cost of the trip. Partisan groups are already hacking at the figures, trying to suppress or inflate the cost as a form of support or opposition.
Liberal-leaning outlets such as Media Matters are touting that the number is grossly overestimated, going on the word of a White House press official. The Huffington Post simply doesn't have a story covering the topic. Conversely, conservative-leaning outlets such as Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, and Drudge the like are touting an outrageous number of dollars per day that the trip will cost the American taxpayers.
Here is an entire article from Media Matters. They attempt to ensure the administration's trip will not cost the taxpayer's as much as some folks are saying:
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White House debunks "wildly inflated" $200M-per-day price tag for Obama's India trip
November 03, 2010 4:31 pm ET by Sarah Pavlus
According to a White House spokesman, the claim -- circulated by Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge Report -- that President Obama's November trip to India will cost the U.S. $200 million per day has "no basis in reality."
In a November 2 article headlined, "US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit," the Press Trust of India reported:
In a November 2 article headlined, "US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit," the Press Trust of India reported:
The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (Rs. 900 crore approx) per day on President Barack Obama's visit to the city.
"The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.
About 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President.
"The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.
About 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President.
By noon, the Drudge Report featured a bright red link to the article that claimed: "REPORT: US to spend $200 million per day on Obama's Mumbai visit..."
Then, on the November 2 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh claimed, "$200 million a day this nation will spend on Obama's trip to India."
When Media Matters asked about the report, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich responded, "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."
The Press Trust of India report was picked up by a number of conservative websites, including The Daily Caller, MichelleMalkin.com, and WorldNetDaily.
Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Fox Business' Eric Bolling repeated the claim after it was debunked by the White House:
source: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201011030032
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Debunked?
Excuse me, journalist, where is the proof in this article that it will not, in fact, cost 200 million per day? Where is the credibility or transparency the President promised that proves dissenters wrong?
On the flip-side, here is a transcript from a Rush Limbaugh show:
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| CALLER: Okay. I read that, I guess, on Politico. But you said something like 500. Well, they're taking the whole Taj Mahal. RUSH: Yeah, 520 rooms in the Taj Mahal. CALLER: Mmm-hmm. And then there were additional hotels, I think, too. RUSH: Yeah. Basically it sounds like a government in exile. Like I said, the question to me is: Are they coming back? CALLER: (giggles) RUSH: I mean, this is -- CALLER: It's not being covered. It's very curious. RUSH: Well, to an extent. It's being reported, otherwise we wouldn't know. Maybe they're more afraid of November it had than we thought, 'cause this trip starts, what? Two or three days after the election. CALLER: Yes. RUSH: Clear the president doesn't want to be anywhere near the scene of the disaster. CALLER: But it would be good to know who these people are. RUSH: Yeah. Well, they booked 500 rooms, you're right. So... (sigh) Look, this regime has a lot of people in it that we don't know. All of these czars, none of them have to go through confirmation hearings. One thing for sure though, folks: It wouldn't take a whole lot of work to round up 800 government people. I mean, we're infested with them. They're like cockroaches. They're all over the place. You know, finding 800 of them to take on a trip would not be hard. Forty, 40 aircraft, 40. I'm sure that includes the press contingent, too, but still 40 aircraft -- and the teleprompter! For the first time ever, a teleprompter is gonna be used in the Indian parliament building. |
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Excuse me, pundit, where are your facts that this will, in fact, cost 200 million dollars per day? The administration is coming as a guest of India, will there be no cost covered by the Indian government?
The Press Trust of India is also covering the story, claiming 200 million dollars per day will be spent and 34 warships will be escorting the President. Like most other outlets, the dollar figures are supported only by hearsay
But all of this back-and-forth banter is not the source of my interest in the story. I am wondering why we are seeing very little, if not any, coverage on the reason for taking the trip in the first place. We are a technologically advanced world. We have video-conferencing technology that is so sophisticated that there is no reason our leaders cannot communicate intimately with India's leaders while on opposite sides of the globe.
Even the Press Trust of India has not mentioned WHY the President will be making the trip to Mumbai, only how much it will cost and what the administration will bring.
The focus of all of these stories is sensational journalism by supposedly trusted sources - shock value attack or 'yes sir' support. Both based on word-of-mouth. It's really disheartening.
Additional sources:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/11/obamas-india-trip----not-as-expensive-as-you-may-have-heard/1
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018890249
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0m6Rxm9vU
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