Obama`s vacation time

[Skitter]

Obama vacation brings rest, relaxation and rebuke

 

By Kristi Keck, CNN

 

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Obama and family at Mount Desert Island, Maine, for the weekend

• GOP criticizing Obama for vacationing during environmental disaster

• Democratic strategist says criticism is "galling," considering Bush's frequent trips

• "The president is the president wherever he is," Paul Begala says

 

(CNN) -- President Obama and his family arrived Friday for a weekend getaway in Maine, but along with a little rest and relaxation comes criticism that the president is taking it easy with the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis in a critical phase.

The Obamas plan to spend the weekend on Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park. The trip marks the president's third weekend vacation since the oil disaster began in April.

The Republican National Committee launched a website blasting what it considers Obama's "leisure activities or missteps" during the oil disaster, like playing golf, attending concerts and vacationing in Asheville, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; and now Maine.

Obama has also faced criticism for scheduling a trip up north, instead of vacationing in the Gulf, as he advised other Americans to do.

"Presidents are certainly entitled to vacation, just like everybody else, but there is a fine line as to when presidents should do it, what they should and where they should do it," said Brad Blakeman, a former member of President George W. Bush's senior staff and the deputy assistant for appointments and scheduling.

"Presidents have to be cognizant of the fact that everything they do is going to be scrutinized," said Blakeman, who also is a professor for Georgetown University's Semester in Washington program.

Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said the Republican criticism is "galling," considering Bush's frequent trips to Camp David and his home in Crawford, Texas.

"Barack Obama is working as hard as any president that we've had in recent history and certainly harder than the most immediate previous president," he said.

CBS's Mark Knoller, who keeps track of presidents' comings and goings, calculated that Bush spent all or part of 977 days at Camp David or in Texas during his two terms.

Blakeman noted that visits to those locations were working trips and not getaways. Bush's staff would travel with him, and work would continue as usual. The Crawford ranch was known as the "Western White House" because of the infrastructure there.

As for calls that Obama should vacation in the Gulf, Simmons said, "Where he chooses to take his days off should really be up to him. We don't want to get into a situation where the president is making familial vacation decisions based upon polling or political maneuvers."

Scott Stanzel, Bush's deputy press secretary who often traveled with the president when he was away from the White House, said that changing locations provided a good opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of Washington.

"President Bush, on the weekends, would often go to Camp David because the size of the bubble you are in expands, so you can go out for a walk or bike ride without having to arrange security detail," he said.

Stanzel was in Crawford with Bush for a number of crises that could not have been planned for, like the conviction of Saddam Hussein, the death of President Ford and the assassination of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto.

Bush was notified of Bhutto's death immediately and delivered a statement to the press pool. "It would have almost been like we were at the White House in terms of the teams that would convene and talk about the issues surrounding that assassination," Stanzel said.

The problem for Obama, Stanzel said, is the visuals that could come out of his trip. A picture of Obama playing golf alongside images from the Gulf could send a negative message.

Paul Begala, a CNN contributor and former adviser to President Clinton, said that vacationing or not, "The president is the president wherever he is.

"I thought it was silly when people attacked Bush for going on vacation, so I'll be consistent and say it's silly when people attack President Obama for going on vacation," he said.

"Of all of the concerns that Americans may have, they do not need to worry whether President Obama is a hard-working man. They may agree or disagree with his policies, but there is just no doubt that the guy is busting his rear end."

 

[Skitter]

Vacation as Usual

 

"On the day after Hurricane Katrina was declared to be not as bad as originally feared, it became clear that the effects of the storm had been, after all, beyond devastation," a New York Times Op-Ed announced August 31, 2005. "But this seems like the wrong moment to dwell on fault-finding, or even to point out that it took what may become the worst natural disaster in American history to pry President Bush out of his vacation."

"George Bush stayed on vacation. He didn't get back to work. When the worst natural disaster in our nation's history attacked us, George Bush STAYED ON VACATION. Why did the federal government stumble so badly on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday? Because on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, George Bush stayed on vacation in Crawford, Texas. On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, vice president Dick Cheney STAYED ON VACATION in Jackson, Wyoming. On Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, Sec. of State Condi Rice WENT ON VACATION in New York City and went to a splashy Broadway musical and bought obscenely expensive shoes. She went shopping," Michael Giltz of AMERICAblog wrote September 5, 2005.

"No need to explain why the President was golfing on Tuesday, playing guitar with country singers on a Tuesday while New Orleans died. Which would be fine if not for the inconvenient fact that the levees were breached on Monday, discovered on Monday, and confirmed on Monday. Monday was the day the levees broke," Izzy wrote September 3, 2005, in the blog Unbossed.

Moreover, "there were no calls for national unity, no experts explaining the state of things, no marshaling of buses and boats and helicopters. Our national leaders were absent. Our national pastimes went on. The experts who were on the news did not speak of the levee, the pumps, the flood, the emergency. They spoke of the revenue, the casinos, the oil, the markets," Izzy added.

[DaveCap]

But, but, but.........

 

If what the past administration did was wrong, why not learn from it.

 

Why elect to trip over the same rock twice?

[dena]

Barry was supposed to change all that.

Several times now he has let us down when he did the same thing as previous administrations. This is why Barry is losing ground with his former supporters. Every time a bbbBush comes up, one more of Barry's promises of change goes by the wayside. I hope he finally starts working for the American people.

[eddy]

Barry was supposed to change all that.

Several times now he has let us down when he did the same thing as previous administrations. This is why Barry is losing ground with his former supporters. Every time a bbbBush comes up, one more of Barry's promises of change goes by the wayside. I hope he finally starts working for the American people.

 

Laser like focus on jobs.

 

He will not rest until everyone has a job.

[Laser8]

Laser like focus on jobs.

 

He will not rest until everyone has a job.

 

 

He will not rest until everyone is dependant on government jobs

[Slacker]

I had no problem with Bush's vacations and I have no problem with Obama's.

[Skitter]

He is not a slave remember Working weekend vacations are cool.

 

Months away during critical times was abhorrent.... GW

[Slacker]

He is not a slave remember Working weekend vacations are cool.

 

Months away during critical times was abhorrent.... GW

 

 

 

You'd be better off following Paul Begala's example.

[longcaster]

Now let's see if I have this right.

 

Bush would go from the White House to his own home in Crawford TX for vacations. He would work at clearing brush and other farm type chores. There was secure communications setup there, it was called the Texas White House.

 

"O" goes to Hawaii, Maine, western NC and other places to vacation.

 

I have a problem with that.

 

"O" has a home in Chicago IL, why does he not go there to unwind, I'll bet there is a secure communications set-up there.

[Skitter]

Technology travels well nowadays.... no problem there.

 

Bush has the record for time off... it was 8 years

 

Its not like he really was the decider anyways....

[longcaster]

Is "O" ashamed to go home, to Chicago?

 

If so, why?

[Gotcow?]

It's really ashame that we have to wait another 2 years before we can give him a permanent vacation.

[dreamcaster]

And nothing in this thread about the dog. http://www.publiusforum.com/2010/07/...vacation-trip/

[danflytr]

"Let me see I lied, hated and stole and all the time doing this I done nothing for anyone. It is time to take a vacation