Slightly excessive

I recall Nancy Pelosi catching hell for the "excessive" security detail she enjoys on her trips to and from California. Well, she's got nothing on the president:

The US President is bringing to Sydney with him not one Jumbo jet, but three, as well as another two aircraft that carry aircraft.

The president's Jumbo has a back-up, and the back-up has a back-up....

The Jumbos are carrying 700 of the president's closest friends.

They include a doctor, nurse, personal chef and four cooks.

They are also carrying advisers, and it is clear the president will not be short of advice.

His entourage includes 50 White House political aides, 150 national security advisers and 200 specialists from other government departments....

POTUS, as he is known in Secret Service jargon (President Of The United States), is getting by with a mere 250 protective agents....

The president's Jumbos look small alongside his gargantuan C17 Globemaster III air transports.

They carry the presidential chopper Marine One and a Black Hawk surveillance helicopter.

They are also bearing a fleet of cars that would do credit to a decent-sized business....

The president's men are believed to be bringing their own sniffer dogs....

They are bringing their own guns and bullets, too, believed to be the only delegation to getspecial dispensation....

When the president's head hits the pillow in Sydney, it will be in a seven-room suite in the InterContinental Hotel, at $4,300 a night.

When his motorcade hits the streets of Sydney, magically changing traffic lights to green the whole way, it will be a sight to behold.

His own fleet is likely to number around 20 vehicles, including an ambulance, so you can imagine how many Australian police cars and motorcycles are going to sweep in front and behind.

A former Clinton aide suggests to me that this sort of thing didn't happen when he worked at the White House.