This is why you need route security for political VIP motorcades. I am assuming that Obama was not in the motorcade as filmed in the video and that the vehicles were simply being moved to a staging area. However, imagine that he had been in the motorcade and the Chinese had refused to shut down the highway. The guy playing this prank would probably (and justifiably) have been rammed off the road. The job that the Secret Service have to do to balance the needs of protection versus freedom of speech/movement is not at all easy. Whether in domestic or foreign operations, the consequences of a false judgement are potentially catastrophic. Look at this incident with Romney last week.
I wrote a piece for the guardian a while back- arguing that David Cameron was making a mistake in getting rid of his police escort.
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