I know that only one Dutch politician has security, and that is controversial Geert Wilders. Other politicians, including our mp, go without. They have chauffeured cars for status and to save time, and that is it. And our population is as large as the State of Florida’s.
Our king has more security though, but that is a more of a status thing, and a protection from pushy fans.
4 US President’s killed
1 shot
2 shot at (FDR was technically President-elect)
1 had a live grenade thrown at him
1 assassin pulled the triggers but the weapons misfired (pre Secret Service and Andrew Jackson beat him with a cane in response.
1 assassin was identified and captured feet from the President with pistol in hand
That’s not double dipping (for example Lincoln was shot at before the successful assassination.) It doesn’t count credible plots that were deterred or stopped beforehand. It doesn’t count plots without actual risk to the President (flying a Cessna at the White House while Clinton was overseas). It doesn’t count things like ricin laced letters caught well before getting near Obama. It also doesn’t count Teddy Roosevelt who was a former President and current candidate when he was shot.
That still has 10 of 45 US Presidents (22%) the target of assassination attempts in person with a credible chance. Is that common enough to understand why we don’t just rely on the VP taking over?
Overreaction is an American thing. Look at 9/11. Terrorists with box cutters hijack several airplanes. The USA spends trillions of dollars on war and security and launches a big war. Thirteen years later, 9/11’s effect is still felt.
This list would be a handy comeback to anyone who dares suggest Obama only wanted to be President to boost his speaking and writing career.
Dang!
I remember (as a boy) when Harold Holt disappeared swimming. And they named a swim centre after him?? :smack:
I think he’s shacked up with Lord Lucan and some nubile servants in north Thailand. 
Fun facts: Andrew Jackson is the only US president whose response to an assassination attempt was to personally beat the crap out of his attacker. Jackson’s friends literally had to pull him away from the guy. 
Teddy Roosevelt was so tough/stubborn/determined, he just kept right on going and finished his speech before seeking medical attention.
Which is why in my OP, I clearly stated that I would expect the Prez to have better security than the Australian PM, or any number of leaders of other small countries. The point of my question was that POTUS’s security is an order of magnitude higher than leaders of other superpowers, EG: Russia, Germany, China, UK.
Don’t worry, your average Aussie has no illusions about our place on the world stage. IE we might let you up here for a bit, but you have to stand at the back.
The Secret Service has one of the most difficult jobs in the world and that is why we react with such shock and disdain when they don’t do it correctly. Very seriously, there are active plots by terrorist groups, threats from lone gunman and just plain crazy people happening constantly. Most of them are just half-assed but some of them aren’t. The Secret Service takes down many more active threats than the general public ever hears about and their expected failure rate is 0.000%. White House fence jumpers that make it into the White House proper are a complete embarrassment as well as a real threat under the right circumstances. A crazy person with bad information is just as much a threat as a carefully planned terrorist attack because, out of a number of them, one may just get lucky.
The Secret Service is generally very good at its job which is why the public reacted so strongly against recent scandals of indiscretion and incompetence. We aren’t spending all that money for show. We know that there will be thousands of threats and plenty of real attacks but it is their job to handle it even giving their lives in the line of fire if they need to.
My female friends in college convinced me to board a bus on the way to a rally for then presidential candidate Bill Clinton in New Orleans. He was in the late stages of his campaign them. I wasn’t a special fan but I wasn’t opposed to him either. We go to the meeting place 4 hours early and did setup work. About two hours before it started, the SS announced that they needed one person to meet and greet the motorcade as it arrived and do photo ops. Everyone lined up and I was was picked for some reason which was kind of laughable (I think I was just the most clean-cut Republican type there). They immediately cleared the area of everyone else and took me off to a different area to do an interview and give special instructions. I passed the interview even though I didn’t care that much but they did really intensely. After I passed, I could go wherever I wanted but I had agents following me at every step by that point and it was was very interesting watching them go through their systems checks. There were a few ‘homeless’ people in the vicinity that were agents themselves and they did window checks for some sniper locations located in nearby buildings.
The motorcade itself was huge and had an obscene number of police cruisers escorting it. I have seen 4th of July fireworks displays with less of a light show than that. My job was to be the Moamback (‘Come on back, come on back’) into designated parking spaces for all of the limos and then give photo ops as everyone stepped out of their vehicle. I met Bill Clinton and a few other really famous people that night (Bill Clinton is an unusually huge man BTW; like almost a giant).
I can see why people from other countries might find such displays as excessive but I truly believe they are necessary even for presidents that I don’t support that much. The U.S. is still the lone world superpower (no offense Putin) and it isn’t a good thing for anyone to have one killed because of a security failure. There are plenty of people that would love to have that as the top line on their prison resume.
When I was in college, our collegiate chorale sang at an American Cancer Society thing which George HW and Barbara Bush attended. (This would have been in 2000 or 2001, so quite a bit after his presidency.) It was in a hotel ballroom, and of course we were backstage, and the big shots were going to have to come through the backstage area, so it was all very secured. Additionally, George had heard that we’d stayed after the end of classes to perform for this thing, so he put aside time in the schedule before his appearance to thank us and shake our hands and photo op. (He is SO MUCH TALLER than you’d think. And I was not at all a fan of his politically, and had always thought of him as the least charismatic President of my lifetime, but you know? In person he’s magnetic. Seriously.)
So because of this setup and the fact that there were going to be handshakes, we were admitted to the secure area backstage through major security and then not allowed to leave. After an hour or so I and another girl had to sheepishly ask if we were allowed to go to the bathroom? We got escorted to the potty. And escorted back again, through the kitchens, not through any public hallways. Where there were agents watching all the food prep, even though I’ve heard and I’m sure this is probably true that presidents don’t eat the food at these things (they have their own people providing it.) And we got seriously scrutinized when we came back, even though we’d been escorted the whole way. And also, you know, we were established members of a choir that had agreed to sing at this before Bush was even slated to come, as far as I know, and we were all fresh faced women’s college students. The security was really impressive for a not particularly controversial ex-president. All very polite, mind, but intense. I can’t imagine what it’s like to maintain that kind of intensity every day in your job because, like somebody said upthread, these people’s failure rate is expected to be 0%.
I heard that he pulled the bullet out with his bare hands and threw it back at the would-be assassin, killing him.