Posted on 08/22/2010 2:05:56 PM PDT by Qbert
As silly season in Washington continues, the Republican Party has decided to make it even sillier:
VINEYARD HAVEN, MASS. — For the second straight year, the first family has landed on this island of quaint seaside towns, second homes and working farms for a late-summer getaway.
But this year, more so than last, political opponents are trying to hang a question over the visit: Does President Obama deserve a vacation? The Republican National Committee has taken to calling Obama “the Clark Griswold president,” a mocking reference to the Chevy Chase character in National Lampoon’s “Vacation” movies. With unemployment claims climbing again, the GOP was hoping its criticism would have a certain national resonance. And maybe it will.
One potential complication: Obama has spent far less time on vacation than his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, had at this point in his presidency.
[Snip]
That is fairly obvious, of course, considering that it is only the vociferous partisans that seem to bring this issue up time and time again when Presidents engage in the most inane types of leisure activities. Steven Taylor put it best, I think, when he talked about the golf meme back in June:
First, presidents deserve some down time. Do we really want them to have no rest and relaxation?
Second, conservatives in particular, who argue that we should recognize and accept the limitations of government should recognize that having a president work 24/7 is an inefficacious desire.
[Snip]
So let the President golf, let him go to Martha’s Vineyard.
One can argue about the President’s performance in office, and I largely think he’s done a pretty bad job so far, but to criticize him for stuff like this is petty and stupid.
(Excerpt) Read more at outsidethebeltway.com ...
Zer0 needs to focus like a laser beam on something other than lining up his putts.
Why Yes a long stay in Leavenworth would do nicely.
Uh, I’d like to give the dope a PERMANENT vacation....
Dumb? Dumb is not knowing the equivalent political torture called, “Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
Works pretty well.
He’s great at providing the knives, too. The waffling worked well this week.
I getting pretty weary of people who criticize people who criticize the president. He's the President of the United States for gosh sakes. If the little man can't handle the (well deserved, IMHO)scrutiny, perhaps he should look for another line of work.
undocumentd mooooselum vacationeer
Lazy *ss and Fat *ss take their 479th vacation.
Worst Presidential couple in history.
But honestly, it's not just the fact that he takes vacations.. it's the over the top excursiveness, and the insensitivity it displays that is the real issue.
Actually in many ways this issue is just like the mosque one... Does a president have the right to take a vacation... of course. Should the President and his family go on extravagant trip after trip wearing the latest most expensive designer clothes and blowing 100’s of thousands of dollars while the American economy burns... no.
This is not a question of rights. It's a question of doing what is right.
Key word here is “A.” Not five. One. Same as many people get in a year.
He can’t meet with George Soros and the K Street lobbyists at the White House, because it’d show up in the sign-in log.
” expensive”
Nay, extravagent. Lavish. Wasteful.
Hmmmmmm....wasteful at a time of foodstamps, homeless, despairing unemployed and dispossessed.
Out of touch.
Thank yew!
Bush used to go to his home in Crawford and work from there. That time out of Washington is being equated with posh vacations on Martha's Vineyard and Bar Harbor, Maine, as well as time spent in five star hotels in Spain, with 40 close friends.
“Key word here is “A.” Not five. One. Same as many people get in a year.”
—Ok, I’ll reword it for the GOP...:
“Does the President deserve his fifth vacation since July?”
Satisfied?
First, I don’t buy this idea that President Bush spent more time on vacation than Obama. The media has lied about similar things (claimed that Pres. Bush hadn’t gone to Arlington on Memorial Day either - except a FReeper here linked the speech Pres. Bush gave at Arlington when he supposedly wasn’t there).
Second, context if EVERYTHING. Taking personal time at one’s own home isn’t the same thing as jet-setting the World at public expense. Also, the economic times in 2000 weren’t Depression Era, and so, it didn’t show nearly so much contempt for those struggling.
This is just another pathetic attempt to keep the real media (so-called alternative media) from reporting what the drive-by media doesn’t want known.
“Nothing to see here, move along. . .”
The dumbest assertion this month - republicans invented this meme just for this president.
I wish he’d play more golf and slow down the central management crap coming out of the White Crib. The less he does, the less damage he can cause. It is a little tone-deaf for Barry and Michelle-Omarosa to party every Wednesday night, have wagyu beef bashes, lavish trips with huge entourages, etc, while the unemployment rate goes up beyond even his own predictions, pension funds tank, and the economy circling the drain.
I imagine Lindsey Graham will come out and tell us that Obama was elected president and is entitled to taking all the vacations he wants.
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