Althouse: Should the President go on vacation?

August 12, 2014

Should the President go on vacation?

There's war in the Middle East — as ever — and illegal immigration seems to be proceeding apace — as usual. Dana Milbank seems to disapprove.

66 comments:

BJK said...: Given the state of mobile technology and computer networking, I'm confident that he can make the same questionable decisions while on vacation that he does in the White House.; 8/12/14, 12:09 PM
Pettifogger said...: Yes, because he wreaks less harm when on vacation.; 8/12/14, 12:10 PM
phantommut said...: The best answer is that the entire Administration should go on vacation for the next 26 months.

I don't think they're trying to screw things up this badly, but considering how deep they've dug, a simple cessation of their shoveling would make the world a better place.; 8/12/14, 12:12 PM
Unknown said...: I understand why he should go on vavation. What I fail to understand is why he should return.; 8/12/14, 12:16 PM
Todd said...: You left out the option of "Yes, because he causes less damage that way".; 8/12/14, 12:16 PM
Tank said...: Just back from a week on the Vineyard with my family. Barack joined us at the house we rented, downed a few beers and passed around the Fireball Whiskey. A great time was had by all.

I could send a picture.

Really.; 8/12/14, 12:21 PM
Haiku Guy said...: He should vacation wherever he wants. But he should also pay the political price if he is too extravagant of if it looks as if people are buying influence by providing him with a nice vacation.; 8/12/14, 12:22 PM
lgv said...: If he were at the White House, exactly what would he be doing?

His vacations are not time spent not working. They are time not spent campaigning and begging for party money.; 8/12/14, 12:22 PM
Larry J said...: Obama does less damage to the country when he's playing golf than when he's playing president.; 8/12/14, 12:24 PM
Fen said...: I chose "he needs to go off and restore his mind and body" for the next 2 years.; 8/12/14, 12:26 PM
Brando said...: Maybe we'd all be better off if this president did go on vacation for the next two years.; 8/12/14, 12:28 PM
Brando said...: Though generally speaking, presidents are never truly "on vacation" as they constantly have aides handy and have to work through the vacations. It's not so much a vacation as it is working in a different place.; 8/12/14, 12:29 PM
Nonapod said...: He should take all the vacation time he needs, and more. We should pay a few billion dollars to keep him on vacation for the rest of his term. He can spend his days golfing and his evenings giving speeches at fundraisers to crowds who adore him and aren't overly critical meanies who don't appreciate his greatness. He could transcend the presidency... move through it and beyond it.; 8/12/14, 12:31 PM
Hagar said...: I think in the post-WWII era, when the presidents have gone on vacation, their "inner circle" have gone with them, and the "White House" has continued to function.

Not Obama though; he does not seem to have an "inner circle" who are friends as well as "advisers."

And this - with the Ukraine, ISIS in Iraq, and the Mexican border, etc. - seems to be a very poor time to so ostentatiously vacation on Martha's Vineyard with the super-rich and "get away from it all."; 8/12/14, 12:33 PM
Seeing Red said...: Maybe he could spend some time vegging in front of the TV and be more informed about the world since it's looking like his aides have been on vacation for years since they don't inform him of anything important?; 8/12/14, 12:41 PM
Seeing Red said...: It may be time to sell Camp David since it seems presidents don't like to go there anymore. We could use the money. France is dumping some of it's overseas properties because of the expense cos they're in bad economic shape.; 8/12/14, 12:44 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: He should go on vacation with Hillary, so she can explain to him face-to-face how he screwed up his foreign policy all by himself while she was Sec. State.
Then I would not have to read or listen to her blatherings on the subject.; 8/12/14, 12:47 PM
David said...: Yes. The criticism is largely bullshit, regardless of who is being criticized.

The incredible cost and public inconvenience of moving a President anywhere are part of what galls us now. The entourage and complication keeps on growing, probably without improving security or ability to communicate. It's mostly about the show.; 8/12/14, 12:55 PM
Henry said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/12/14, 12:58 PM
Henry said...: I'm still not sure what the president does when he's NOT on vacation. Other than fund raise and make partisan speeches, that is. It's like he wakes up every morning with three options:

1. Poison the well.
2. Fund raise.
3. Go on vacation.

I think the Democrats are the ones who should be mad about him going on vacation. Every day he's on vacation is a day he's not fundraising.; 8/12/14, 12:58 PM
donald said...: The issue is that snide bitch video.

I wonder if George Bush cruised around fancy republican donor's pads soaking up freebies like the Obama's and Clinton's?; 8/12/14, 1:01 PM
Boltforge said...: lgv said...
"His vacations are not time spent not working. They are time not spent campaigning and begging for party money."

From the link ...
"... his aides wisely chose a wooded backdrop rather than one with the infinity pool and the sweeping water views. Obama finished his four-minute statement and then hopped in his motorcade for the ride to a Democratic fundraiser."

President Academic Lecturer is NEVER more than an hour or so from a fundraiser. Vacation or not.

After he is finally done pretending to be president I wouldn't be surprised if (played holes of golf + fundraisers) > daily world briefings.; 8/12/14, 1:07 PM
Michael K said...: Democrats seem to be much more likely to have no home that they want to go back to and to spend time with the super rich. Roosevelt was rich and had a family home. Truman was modest and stayed that way. Kennedy was in the Roosevelt model. Johnson got rich from politics but at least had a home. Carter went back to Georgia. Clinton and Obama seem to have set a new standard of opulence and lavish travel.; 8/12/14, 1:15 PM
Unknown said...: I would have voted for

"At this point, what difference does it make?"; 8/12/14, 1:16 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: Oh the humanity. We give Presidents a big house with a full staff, swimming pool, bowling alley, and movie theater. No wonder the family wants to spend so much time away.

I think Presidents of both parties ought to spend more time there and not jetting around the country tying up traffic and inconveniencing the hell out of the plebes.; 8/12/14, 1:24 PM
Big Mike said...: @Just Mike, you have a thread winner!

(with "Unknown" getting honorable mention); 8/12/14, 1:27 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @ Henry
You forgot 4. Play more golf.; 8/12/14, 1:29 PM
Lucien said...: Nobody seem to ask parallel questions about when Congress is in recess, or when the Supreme Court is not sitting even though the need for those institutions to have many people in the same place at the same time is greater than it is for the executive.

If a CEO ran a company that could only function well on the days when she was present in the office, you wouldn't think much of her management skills.

But if an emergency came up, and the President said "Sorry, I'm on vacation, ask the Vice President", that would be a problem.; 8/12/14, 1:31 PM
tim maguire said...: There is always a crisis somewhere and the president needs to take some time off from time to time. Obama, however, does seem overly fond of blowing taxpayer dollars on things involving sand and hotel rooms.; 8/12/14, 1:39 PM
mccullough said...: Vacation is fine. But you can't vacation at Martha's Vineyard and then rail against income inequality. It makes Obama look like an out of touch moron.; 8/12/14, 2:07 PM
paminwi said...: I agree with the above comment about Camp David. Is this not a great place to vacation anymore or is it just that you can't have your buddies over so easily?; 8/12/14, 2:13 PM
traditionalguy said...: Who cares. The question is whether Valerie Jarrett goes on vacation, since she is our first virtual woman President.; 8/12/14, 2:20 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Golly I wish there existed some video of candidated Obama discussing whether lots of vacation time is appropriate for a President...it sure would be good to know what he thought.; 8/12/14, 2:47 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: candidate; 8/12/14, 2:47 PM
~ Gordon Pasha said...: He should do what he wants and expect to be criticized for his decision.; 8/12/14, 2:54 PM
LTMG said...: Let Obama stay on vacation forever and drift into obscurity. He can do the least damage that way. Let Biden accompany him. Put the head groundskeeper of the White House in charge with the head of the OMB as chief advisor.; 8/12/14, 3:04 PM
Brando said...: The only issue with presidents on vacation is the optics. They can get just as much done while on vacation as they can at the White House (with the exception of physically meeting people, but then such people usually will travel to meet the president).

The optics are that it looks bad for a president to be on vacation during a crisis (as it hurt Bush during Katrina) or to be on a fancy vacation which makes the president look elitist (note the Clintons taking a camping vacation in 1996 to look less ritzy for the general election). These are sort of ridiculous when you think about it--Bush could do as much about Katrina from his ranch as he could from the White House, and everyone knows the President can afford to vacation at Martha's Vineyard rather than roughing it at a national park with tents and campfires. But presidents unfortunately have to pay attention to such things.; 8/12/14, 3:18 PM
Anonymous said...: I say recreate the Oval Office up on the Vineyard. Same switches, advisers, pens and phones.

Most of the media stays on the island, The View, and some kind of B Team so not too much suspicion gets aroused.

Everything stays the same except Obama's edicts end-up whisked away in a pneumatic tube and deposited in the ocean below, where John Kerry windsurfs peacefully.; 8/12/14, 3:18 PM
geokstr said...: From Instapundit earlier today:

BARACK OBAMA ON PRESIDENTIAL VACATIONS IN 2008: “You have to understand that if you seek that office, then you have to be prepared to give your life to it. Essentially, the bargain that I think every President strikes with the American people is, ‘you give me this office, then in turn my fears, doubts, insecurities, foibles, need for sleep, family life, vacations, leisure, is gone. I am giving myself to you.’”

From the list of issues where he has li..., oops, grown, and evolved, #33,847.; 8/12/14, 3:33 PM
Bob Ellison said...: This question ("Should the President go on vacation?") is stupid. Someone has asked it about every president in my lifetime.

Grow up.; 8/12/14, 3:34 PM
Bob said...: Frankly, even given that the double standard that the media engages in, we elect our presidents to work hard for us, and that includes leisure time. We don't elect them to do penance for us. Bush was wrong to allow the media to manipulate him into giving up a leisure activity he enjoyed.; 8/12/14, 3:42 PM
MB said...: Isn't playing golf like a mini vacation? I say this because I do not have the opportunity to take a few hours off for anything, even for a haircut; much less for something enjoyable.; 8/12/14, 3:44 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: While I haven't been to Martha's Vineyard in almost 30 years, I don't remember it being that glamorous.

Hawaii is glamorous, Martha's Vineyard is slumming.; 8/12/14, 3:52 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: No.; 8/12/14, 3:52 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Our elected officials should be afraid to even show their mugs in public.; 8/12/14, 3:57 PM
MayBee said...: I'm fine with him going on vacation, but I think the taxpayers should get a full and very public accounting of how much it costs us. Including the costs of his wife and advisors and security.

Actually, every trip he takes should have a price tag associated with it for all to see. We deserve to know how our money is being spent and as Haiku Guy says, we can decide what we want to say and think about it.

It's a sham that it's a big state secret.; 8/12/14, 4:01 PM
Unknown said...: Just a suggestion passed on from a helpful Twitter user this morning: Hey @BarackObama. If you stepped down today, the vacation wouldn't have to end. Think about it ...; 8/12/14, 4:02 PM
James Pawlak said...: I will contribute to for a one way ticket for his immediate travel to Kenya or Indonesia or Saudi Arabia if, and only if, he takes Joe Biden with him AND both never to return to MY country.; 8/12/14, 4:07 PM
MayBee said...: Plus, what is and what isn't vacation?

I know he works hard, but he spends a loooooot of time fundraising for the DNC. That isn't really Presidenting, although it doesn't count as vacation. It's like having a side job.

That we pay for.; 8/12/14, 4:13 PM
averagejoe said...: A while ago I listened to a radio news broadcast from 1957. There was mention of president Eisenhower and the first lady being obligated to reimburse the treasury for their meals. The president at $1.05 a meal, and the first lady at $1.50. I wonder when that requirement was abandoned...; 8/12/14, 4:15 PM
Titus said...: The Vineyard is so fab. You flyovers should go sometime-totally delish. You will abs love it for days.

Did you know there is decent population of blacks there?

tits.; 8/12/14, 4:31 PM
bgates said...: There's war in the Middle East — as ever,

writes the woman who detected a lack of empathy in other people mere hours ago.; 8/12/14, 4:48 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @ Left Bank of the Charles

You weren't looking. It's hard to see a lot of those high priced homes/compounds because they are situated to avoid the riff raff. Didn't you see Ernie Boch's place - and he is or was a car dealer for C****t's sake!; 8/12/14, 5:14 PM
MountainMan said...: Lucien said: "Nobody seem to ask parallel questions about when Congress is in recess, or when the Supreme Court is not sitting ..."

It is well-known that Justice Thomas has a big RV and he and his wife take off during the summer on long-distance trips across the country, sometimes parking overnight in Wal-Mart parking lots and spending time interacting with the people they meet along the way. Sounds like a very good use of his vacation time to me.; 8/12/14, 6:21 PM
MountainMan said...: @averagejoe at 4:14PM:

The President and his family pay for their personal meals they eat in the White House. They get a bill at the end of each month, just like a hotel. You can read more here:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/20681/who-pays-obama-familys-food; 8/12/14, 6:25 PM
Mr. D said...: The real questions:

(a) are there any ditches in Martha's Vineyard; and

(b) is Cindy Sheehan in one of them?; 8/12/14, 6:27 PM
Titus said...: Thomas's vacation=real america.

Obama's vacation-not real america.

tits.; 8/12/14, 7:44 PM
Will said...: Look at recent weeks and his politicized fund-raising trips to Colorado, Washington, Texas, New York and California. That is not official People's business; it is democratic party campaign business. His sole focus seems to be the midterms. It is certainly not on his job as President.

If Obama wants to work on fundraising three days a week, as he has done recently, well to most Americans that looks like a 2 day work-week.

So if he is so exhausted that he simply must have a vacation my advice would be to cut back on the fundraising and focus more on your real job and make sure you get the rest you need. It is you who is choosing to burn the candle at both ends and for your own projects, not the American people. He is quoted as saying it would be "unbearable" to lose the Senate. But I guess it is bearable to have a crappy economy and a foreign policy in smoldering ruins.

His results are frankly so bad, that he can ill afford to work 2 days a week. Going on vacation in a time when women are being sold into slavery due to his policies proves he has jug ears of tin and lacks the leadership required of a President.

Behave like a President and you will be treated like one. Act like a political hack and you will be treated like one. His choice seems clear.; 8/12/14, 8:10 PM
Michael Ryan said...: "Yes, and don't come back."; 8/12/14, 8:33 PM
Rob C said...: Don't you have to work before you go on a vacation?; 8/12/14, 9:17 PM
averagejoe said...: MountainMan said...
@averagejoe at 4:14PM:

The President and his family pay for their personal meals they eat in the White House. They get a bill at the end of each month, just like a hotel. You can read more here:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/20681/who-pays-obama-familys-food

8/12/14, 6:25 PM

Thanks, Mountain Man. Obama's tab must be astronomical from all the Kobe beef and arugula, not to mention the pizza chef he flies in from Chicago and the Wednesday night parties with celebrities attending and performing. No wonder why the shithead has to go running to the democrat party millionaires and billionaires shaking the cup three times a week...; 8/12/14, 11:23 PM
William said...: He has been wearing long pants recently while playing golf. This shows he has a since of propriety, given all the death and mayhem that's occurring in the world. He's not an insensitive man.; 8/13/14, 12:27 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: If he's on the beach reading a book like "How To At Least Look Like You Are Trying To Be a President", then I'd say it's a good use of his time.; 8/13/14, 5:02 AM
damikesc said...: Get him off the grid entirely.

For about 2 years, 5 months, and a week.

That'd improve things.; 8/13/14, 8:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Yes, he should stay on vacation for the next 2 years. Please.; 8/13/14, 11:32 AM
RonF said...: This guy has been on vacation from being President ever since he was elected. The only thing he's worked on was getting re-elected. Otherwise he's been on vacation for years.; 8/13/14, 4:09 PM

Should the President go on vacation?
	No. Stay in the White House and work for us until your term is over.
	Yes, but much less often and keep it very modest, like clearing brush in Crawford, Texas.
	Yes, but less often and not to glamorous places, like Martha's Vineyard.
	Yes, he needs to preserve and restore his mind and body, for the greater good, so do whatever works.
	Yes, it's his call. Whatever he thinks is right is fine.

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Should the President go on vacation?

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