Obama's Wheels: Secret Service To Unveil New Presidential Limo

[THUNDER HANDS]

Source: CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars. As president, he'll be handed the keys to one. Sort of.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank. In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20 to drive the new president on the 2-mile jaunt down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade. Already, spy photos of the limo -- with patches of gray primer -- have leaked out. And already auto enthusiasts have panned the design of the new presidential limo, which will be painted all black. The reviews:

"Ugly as sin," says one car enthusiast on an auto Web site. "Can't we make a hotter ride for our pres?"

"Sheesh," says another, "why don't they just transport the president around in an Abrams tank."

One news agency, noting its 8-inch-thick doors, says the limo can withstand a "direct hit from an asteroid."



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/06/driving.obama/in...

[truthisfreedom]

1. Bizarre.

I suppose the roof is 6 inches thick too. How many horsepower do you need to get that thing going? 1000?

[Joe Bacon]

51. Where's the Pimp My Ride guys when you need them?

That car needs a serious makeover.

[derby378]

2. How fast can it go driving on its rims?

I think the previous POTUS limo could push 50mph if all the tires were shot out.

[truthisfreedom]

6. Runflats. They're nearly solid, with a slight air core, and when they're flat they don't change

shape so they never run on the rims.

on edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-flat_tire

[rosesaylavee]

3. It does need to be jazzed up a bit...

Maybe a hood ornament?

Maybe change the suspension - lowrider-style?

[Bake]

20. Couldn't it be metallic gold or something?

Geeez!

Bake

[rosesaylavee]

34. maybe flames on the side?

[Bake]

35. That would be cool. And HYRDRAULICS!!!

Let's see it bounce!!

Bake

[Duckhunter935]

4. Front really does look ugly

[DS1]

5. Think he'll do the former tradition of getting out and walking a leg

of that route. Bush was supposed to have, but he started getting pelted with eggs instead.

Boy, that President has had more shit thrown at him

[Citizen Number 9]

48. He might want to walk, but the Secret Service

really isn't going to like it.

[grannylib]

7. I don't give a shit how ugly it is, will it keep him safe from the lunatic

assholes out there who want to do him harm? And if it's a hybrid, so much the better.
Yeah, it's butt-ugly, but who cares?

[tom_paine]

15. Seven posts until a voice of reason. Not good. Thanks grannylib, but it sure seems like the

Bushification of the American Mind has been a wild success.

Even here at DU. Seven times the discussion of Bushie Distractional Bulhit before your Common Sense is heard.

I do despair for our nation, which even now in the wake of the Obama Victory, still seems to me populated by the same people, including me who is a part of it, too, for whom I sang MY last line of the National Anthem these last 8 years, but should have been singing it for the last 28, far more appropriate now than the original:

O'er the Land..of TV...and the home...of the (Virtual) Slave.

I wish it was not so, but it is.

Thank you granny, for being one of the few the proud, the people who can still remember how to think in something other than Cable TV.

[Bake]

21. Duh. Of course we want him in a SAFE vehicle.

That's a given.

All we're askin' for is a little style.

Bake

[tom_paine]

22. Sorry, db. Just sick of all this frivolous bullshittery while Rome Falls.

You are probably right, and of course life without "frivolous bullshittery" wouldn't be worth living.

But this week has been a lot of body blows from the people I worked so very hard to put into power in November, and it's starting to feel like November 2006 all over again.

I am witholding judgement until Obama governs for a good long while, to do otherwise would be nuts, but I am very concerned with the direction things are taking now and with what these bad signs MAY portend for what happens when Obama does govern.

The latest lunacies: Celebrity-Corporate-Talking-Head-Doc for Surgeon General, because, hey, why NOT have a paid pill shill who probably hasn't really practiced medicine or driven himself in years, instead of an accomplished M.D. And now Harry Reid once gaain, even in the supposed power of victory, getting on his knees to the Bushies in the matter of Franken when you KNOW how it would be if the roles were reversed.



So, I do apologize.

How 'bout a dome top and some fins?





Peace.

It's been a unexpectedly tough month this last months, very December 2006, and many are on edge. I'm one of them.

[Bake]

27. Believe me, I share your concerns!

The Gupta thing really disappointed me. I have a nagging fear that we're going to end up with "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

But without frivolity, what would DU be?



Bake

[rosesaylavee]

40. But it's the humor that got us thru the dark time these past 8 years...

DU used to have a lot more of it prior to the Primaries. We are FAR too serious here of late. If we don't cut loose every once in a while, we can't see the overal picture.

Yes it's grim. Perhaps it's never been grimmer than what we are facing economically and socially. But we do need to laugh... a lot if we want to remain sane through what's coming down the pike.

And the car is butt ugly.

[pokercat999]

42. Aw come on. the current POTUS is a WAR CRIMINAL what

could be worse?......that he gets away with it!

You know and I know nothing will be done to the Bush crime family.

Obama will gloss over it when the time comes in six days and congress will follow suit.

[DS1]

50. oh give it a fucking rest

for once

[RedEarth]

23. I agree... I could care less how it looks, I just want him to be safe

Too many crazy people roaming around.

[VPStoltz]

8. I think "O" would look good in a Chrysler 300 limo.

[Malidictus Maximus]

49. And I think 'W' would look good in a paddy wagon

[Historic NY]

9. The only thing Cadillac on this is the grill...its a GMC truck underneath.

[Bette Noir]

10. Not a pretty car.

Could we get him the car from "Batman Begins"? Barack's a fan; I think he'd dig it.

On the chance that the Batmobile was entirely CG, how about a custom car just like it?

[420inTN]

19. i'm sure it'll look better once it get a final coat of paint n/t

[Hardrada]

11. Leaders have come a long way from just standing up

in the back of huge Mercedes-Benz.

[Posteritatis]

12. Eight-inch doors; yeow

Heavy cruisers during WWII had between two and six inches of armor in their side belts.

Rolling bunker indeed.

[sarcasmo]

13. Safety trumps ugly. The lunatic fringe will be out in force once he is sworn in.

[Kolesar]

14. Looks kind of like Jake and Elwood's "Bluesmobile" in scruffy-primer gray

But, you are soooo correct about the lunatics. Have seen too many of our activists murdered in my lifetime

[Tesha]

38. "It's got cop tires, cop suspension and cop motor." (NT)

[HopeHoops]

16. Get Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem to paint it like Fozzie's car from the Muppet Movie!

[Robb]

26. Aaah!! No problehm!!

[Blue_Tires]

32. WIN

wow..haven't seen that in eons....

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. If the USA wasn't the most warmongering nation on the planet, this protection would not be needed.

.
.
.

could be a GREAT country if it just stayed home an minded it's OWN business.

USA does need to pay attention to some home business pretty soon,

I hear they have a bit of a financial thing to take care of . .

Hmmmm?

[Demeter]

39. This Tank Is To Protect Barack from AMERICANS

and I'm sad to say, it's a good idea and a necessary investment.

[420inTN]

18. Where's the spinners? lol n/t

[yellowcanine]

24. That is one ugly ass car. Couldn't they do something with paint or something to jazz it up a little

I know, it would be like putting lipstick on a pig but still.

[Posteritatis]

30. That's primer, not the real paint (nt)

[Juneboarder]

25. Glad to see he's going hybrid...

Always best to lead by example!

[jmowreader]

28. It's not QUITE like the hybrids we can buy

It's more of a hybridization of a Cadillac stretch limo, a Mack truck and an Abrams tank.

[Juneboarder]

29. But it's a hybrid :)

I prefer to see the glass half full

[whopis01]

44. ummm.... not quite that type of hybrid

It is a hybrid of a car and a tank. I don't think that is the example that most people should be taking.

[sofa king]

31. Wow. That's even uglier than the last one.

That was the only time I ever saw the Resident, even though I lived in the next white house over (okay, you got me: the next white house over is a mile away in Arlington).

I was trying to cross 16th Street and it was blocked off, and here comes the newly minted Commander-in-Thief, with the damned overhead lights on inside, in this ugly-ass bubblemobile. He looked like a pussy.

And hell yes, I gave him the bird. Until he was out of sight.

[spotbird]

45. I was close enough to it to spit on it;;

but it happened so quickly the thought didn't occur to me, gratefully. I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my days in Gitmo.

[Politicub]

33. Sweet hairy jeezus - that's the ugliest automobile I've ever seen!

[newscott]

36. Cadillac, cadillac. Long and dark shiny and black.

[high density]

37. Presidential diesel limo

I guess it takes a diesel to get that huge thing motivated.

8"-thick doors, jeeeze.

[Sultana]

41. Fugly car

[ileus]

43. Nice car indeed, people do understand this is a finished product pic...right?

[Citizen Number 9]

47. Do you mean UNfinished product.....

?

This place is a microcosm of real life. People often don't read and observe before opening their mouth.

[fed_up_mother]

46. Saw somewhere that it can withstand most chemical and biological attacks

And I suspect once it's painted and all shiny, it will look much nicer. However, it sure doesn't look that big.