Is this a visit or an invasion? "34 warships sent from US for Obama visit"

As President Obama begins his 10 day - $200 million a day taxpayer funded - tour:

Press Trust of India reports that ...

He [Obama] will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.

Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed.

Obama is expected to fly by a helicopter -- Marine One -- from the city airport to the Indian Navy's helibase INS Shikra at Colaba in south Mumbai.

From there, he will drive down in Lincoln Continental -- the Presidential limousine -- to the nearby the Taj Hotel.

Two jets, armed with advanced communication and security systems, and a fleet of over 40 cars will be part of Obamas convoy.

Around 800 rooms have been booked for the President and his entourage in Taj Hotel and Hyatt.

Gary V comments:

34 US Navy ships, 571 rooms at the most expensive hotel in India, 3000 government employees, 4 helicopters 18 jets, Mooshell and the kids for a 3 day trip? This village idiot is abusing the US Govt system. They are a sham and a disgrace to the taxpaying working class American. Make him commute in a Tata! How much you want to bet he is there to pitch the SEIU to the off shore call center workers hired by US companies?

According to the UK Telegraph:

Coconuts removed from trees in preparation for Barack Obama's India trip

Mr Obama will arrive in India on Saturday for the first leg of an Asian tour.

But as well as the usual security measures that come with welcoming a a visiting dignitary, Indian authorities have decided to go one step further, by removing all natural threats to the president as well.

All coconuts around the city's Gandhi museum, one of Mr Obama's stops in the city, are being taken down.

Mani Bhavan, where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his freedom struggle against the British, is among five places the US president is visiting in Mumbai.

"We told the authorities to remove the dry coconuts from trees near the building. Why take a chance?" Mani Bhavan's executive secretary, Meghshyam Ajgaonkar, told the BBC.

The "over the top" size and cost of this trip is beginning to seep into the MSM and political debate after getting lots of attention in the Internet.

From another article in the Press Trust of India:

Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota fresh off a victory in her closely watched re-election bid, slammed the White House for the "massive overspending" for Obama's maiden visit to India.

Meanwhile from the Old Grey Whore (NY Times) ... crickets chirping.  Enter "Obama trip cost" in the Washington Post search box and  ... nothing, nada.  The Wall Street Journal?  Silence.

And what is this trillion dollar trip expected to produce?  Barun S. Mitra in the Wall Street Journal:

Indians are not expecting much from the visit of President Barack Obama this week. Rather, given the range of issues on which the two governments diverge today, they are just hoping that no new conflict arises. Neither side seems capable of the leadership that made the visit of George W. Bush in 2006 such a success....

In India, Mr. Obama has attracted neither welcome nor hostility. That may come as a relief after today's U.S. election outcome, but it also means the trip is likely to turn out to be a damp squib. The president is expected to make some concessions to the export-control order that restricts India's access to sensitive and dual-use technologies, something India has been seeking for a long time, but this step is likely to get lost among technical discussions. Mr. Obama may also indicate the U.S. support for India's place on the U.N. Security Council. But this is something the U.S. may not be able to deliver anytime soon.

Bilateral cooperation on international issues is no better. There, Mr. Obama has three key agenda items: Af-Pak, the yuan-dollar exchange rate and climate change. But again, he seems to have given little thought with how to integrate India into his agenda. Either his administration does not see any significant role for Delhi, as in Af-Pak, or the Indian priorities are different, as in climate change.

 

But don't fret, like Michelle's extravagant trip to Spain earlier this year, it will be a swell vacation for the Obamas and the village of hangers-on they're taking along.  After this, I'll never be possible to criticize congressional junkets again.  Everything else - all other royal progresses in the past will pale in comparison.  Over-the-top does not even begin to describe it.

UPDATE:  Allahpundit at Hot Air labels the $200 milliondollar price tag of the trip an urban legend and says "Don’t trust Indian media." 

Instead, who does she trust?  Snopes!  

Do you know who or what Snopes is?  Snopes is about as reliable as Wikipedia.  It’s a husband and wife team running a website out of California.  To suggest that they have any better information about the cost of this junket than the writers if the Indian Press Trust is risible.

The cost “debunked?”  Then come up with something more believable than denials from the same administration that told us that the cost of ObamaCare was zero.  Don’t do the math and say that an entourage of 3000 people that includes the entire White House staff is equivalent of booking accommodations and meals in for a large tourist group visiting India.  Is an aircraft carrier task force going to be assigned to this jaunt?  Are the number of planes and cars going there accurate or not?  What’s the cost of the security arrangements other than the Air force, Navy and Army that surround this trip?   Have the Obamas been known for caring anything about taking extravagant trips on the taxpayer's dime?