Obama's Presidential Limo Will Be a 'Rolling Tank With Windows'

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/obamas-presiden.html

by svjunkie • 18 years ago

22 43 18 years ago

blog.wired.com

whiskeyjack• 18 years ago

And here I thought he was a Mac guy.

bprater2• 18 years ago

Hardy har har.

patio11• 18 years ago

He's pretty good at giving people the impression that he's culturally identified with them. The funny thing is, I think he manages to give it to just about everybody at once. Then something like "zomg Obama has touched a Zune" comes out and people feel a sense of personal betrayal.

(Honestly, I think if Obama ever decided for vi or emacs some people I know would suffer psychotic breaks.)

bprater2• 18 years ago

Why even have windows? (Especially at 5 inches thick.) A video camera and some monitors might do the trick.

jm4• 18 years ago

I'm guessing it's because without windows it would look like a tank too. I can think of at least a couple reasons why having the President rolling around in a tank isn't a good idea, and they obviously don't think it's a good idea either since they've gone through so much trouble to make the President's vehicle look like a regular car.

dfranke2• 18 years ago

Looking like a tank would be an improvement. Regular car? Most of what you'd find in a junkyard is more attractive.

streety• 18 years ago

"Despite the immense secrecy, reports have leaked that the limo also comes with a 10-CD changer . . ."

All that tech in there and he'll only have 10 CDs to choose from? Seems a little dated.

lallysingh• 18 years ago

I suspect that these things have a long development cycle.

OTOH, as long as it'll take line-in from an iPod, no problem.

AndrewWarner• 18 years ago

I'm glad his administration is using online social tools, because physically, this is going to be one of the most isolated presidents we've ever had. He just has to be protected like this.

dfranke2• 18 years ago

I don't get why people think Obama is in so much danger of assassination. Why a greater chance than any other president? Is it just that he's young and therefore reminds people of Kennedy?

donw• 18 years ago

Obama is the first black President of the United States, and there are a lot of racist idiots who would love to make his tenure as short as possible.

snprbob86• 18 years ago

There have been conflicting reports (just Google it a bit), but it appears that the secret service has been notified of significantly many more death threats than usual.

zandorg• 18 years ago

What about exploding iPods and mobile phones?

gills• 18 years ago

How likely is it there is really any new technology here? If there were new armor technology, wouldn't Bush already be rolling around in the latest?

I think they're jawboning to deter the amateurs. Anybody really determined is going to find a way to get their hands on offensive technologies advanced enough to defeat the armor.

ja2ke• 18 years ago

Some pretty epically horrible blog comments for that article. Wow!

callahad• 18 years ago

The second still shot [1] has the Lightbox2 [2] overlay baked in. Looks like Wired took a screenshot of another site.

[1] http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/images/2009/01/06/car.jpg

[2] http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

joubert• 18 years ago

The Pope Mobile seems pretty pretty compared to this monstrosity.

tudorachim• 18 years ago

This sounds pretty cool, but it seems like this is a waste of money. I can't remember there ever being an attack on a president while he was in an enclosed limo (but I'm going from memory, haven't looked it up), and the previous one seems to have been enough of a deterrent. Washington, D.C. isn't exactly a warzone that requires a tank.

Obama's Presidential Limo Will Be a 'Rolling Tank With Windows'

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