Obama's inauguration will cost 5 times more then Bill Clinton's did in 1993

Last week I found myself walking straight into the middle of a discussion concerning President Elect Obama’s upcoming inauguration.  Most of those in the conversation were extremely happy to talk about the “Historic Event”, how “far America has come” or where they planned to have their own celebration.  A couple of brave souls pointed out they were getting a little sick of the continual comparisons to Abraham Lincoln, one even attempted to comment on what he saw as Obama’s arrogance for so bracingly thrusting the connection in front of the media.  But such comments were quickly moved away from as if they were, for lack of a better term, sacrilegious.  It did not seem anything even vaguely non-pro Obama was considered in good manners, or perhaps even understandable by a majority of those there.   When one person attempted to make a comment concerning the excessive cost of the inauguration – no doubt a TabRight.com reader J – nobody else seemed phased by the $160 million price tag.  Instead comments ranged from “Well it’s an important event” to “Its no more expensive than any other President’s inauguration” at which point I had to jump in. 

I share that in fact Obama’s will cost over 5 times the cost of Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration and that when President Bush’s 2005 inauguration cost $42.3 million, Democrats and the media condemned it as distasteful and excessive waste of money.  However these comments seemed to fall on deaf ears no matter how many facts were presented.  So, as I am sure I am not the only one running into these conversations, for today’s column I thought I would provide a method of pointing out the difference in cost between Bush’s and Obama’s inaugurations in a way that any liberal should be able to appreciate.

President Elect Obama’s inauguration will cost approximately $116.8 Million more then President Bush’s 2005 inauguration.  This is the same as:

71,219,512 extra meals for the homeless at the Wayside Soup Kitchen in Portland Maine

40,137,457 extra free school breakfasts or lunches according to the USDA

2,085 H2 2009 Hummers (Base model)… oops!  These things aren’t carbon wise… how about instead….4,938 Honda Civic Hybrids (Base model)

586,934 iPhone 3G’s from Apple (on the AT&T network)

391,946 Round trip airline tickets (purchased Sunday night) from Denver to Washington D.C. on Jan 20^th  (Sorry Fmr Vice President Gore, at TabRight.com we only buy economy class… no private jets )

And finally, if none of nothing else registered….

37,677,419 Lattes (12 oz size) at StarBucks!

Source: Guardian.co.uk, WaysideSoupkitchen.org, Schoolnutrition.org, vehix.com, Walmert.com, BuyiPhone.apple.com, NewCars.com, Orbits.com, USAToday.com