Via CBS News:
So far, President Obama has taken 61 vacation days after 31 months in office. At this point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch where his staff often joined him for meetings. And Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch.
Among recent presidents, Bill Clinton took the least time off — 28 days.
Yes…Elvis was the hardest working. Obama’s a close second. George W. Bush? To be kind, let’s call it The National Guard Plan.
Right-wing nutjobs point out with sophomoric glee that “Obama plays more golf than Bush!!!” Of course he does. I mean, after this “performance”, Bush pretty much had to recreate by other means. (He had to give up carrier landings for similar reasons.)
Other metrics could be manufactured out of arbitrary presidential pastimes: Bush spent much more time than Obama destroying habitat clearing brush, perch fishing, Segway “riding”, and mountain biking. On the other hand, we must admit that Obama has spent a lot more time engaged in presidential dribbling than did Bush.
But golf, mountain biking, hoops…whatever. Only one President was too distracted by vacationing to act on a daily briefing titled, “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US”. That inaction started another big mess that Obama has spent years cleaning up. Apparently using some of his vacation days.
The wingnuts were especially defensive of Bush’s vacations, despite the fact that they were being taken while U.S. casualties in Iraq were mounting. “He’s costantantly in contact with the White House and the Pentagon”, they would claim, which is a fair point. But that begs the point, because ALL presidents can make that claim.
But don’t expect actual facts to get in the way of Rush Limbaugh and the Faux Noise Machine, which is claiming that Obama should never take a vacation while lots of Americans are without jobs. Such a statement is hypocritical on so many levels – Bush took far more vacations which they defended as not being a problem, the Republicans in the House have pretty much made clear that they don’t care about unemployement and won’t let any jobs program pass Congress.
But what they really want to do is play up Obama’s visit to his home state of Hawaii. Because they know that for much of the South and Middle America, their base, a Hawaii vacation is considered the ultimate luxory. But it really shouldn’t be – the American working class should be able to enjoy a vacation in Hawaii at least every five years or so. But they can’t, because Republican policies have reduced their financial status year after year.
Even Japan, with all it’s problems, has a population which travels much more than we do (on average) in the U.S. It’s not uncommon for me to meet an average Tokyo salaryman/salarywoman in their twenties or thirties who have taken vacations to Hawaii, the mainland U.S., Guam, Tailand, Australia, Korea, China, and even Europe (usually France). They don’t understand why we don’t feel we can afford such trips. (Of course, they also pay a minimum of 50% down on a condo, which they call a “mansion”.)
I always felt safer when GW was on vacation. I never begrudged him his days off.
Don’t confuse people with the facts.
Yes, Obama has taken less vacation than W and is entitled to every minute of it.
But politically, it was an incredibly stupid decision that gave his opponents a completely predictable (and avoidable) shot at him.
How politically clueless can you be – taking a vacation on Martha’s Vineyard when the nation’s biggest problem is UNEMPLOYMENT???
Again, he’s entitled to time off – and to take it wherever he wants.
But you cannot blame his opponents for making political hay out of it, nor for some people feeling resentful about it.
3
Obama’s opponents criticize him for anything he does. It does not matter what he does, they will find fault. He cannot plan his life around what the lunatic right will find to rant about. He has a young family, a family that is in the spotlight at all times. Obama’s daughters deserve time away from Washington with their parents. He is doing precisely the right thing. Fuck those who say otherwise.
Normally I’d agree with #3, but this time around I’m going with #4. It doesn’t matter what Obama does or doesn’t do, they’re going to complain either way.
Why the man would want to stay in office another term is beyond me.
Taking a vacation in the snobbish leftist elitist Martha’s Vineyard is the ultimate slap in the face to struggling Americans, especially if Obama has a Jobs Plan as he claims. Obama is essentially putting his own desires ahead of the needs of millions of Americans. I guarantee his ass will be back in the White House before the end of this hob-knobbing with the Leftist Elite plans.
Comparing vacation days with Bush is ludicrous. Bush lost me when he went on vacation shortly after the Iraq War started. He should have never gone on vacation while our men & women were in harms way, just like Obama should not while folks are really suffering. And telling us he has some secret jobs plan but wait 2 more weeks, makes things even worse.
I think Obama is manic depressive.
I also think America is suffering from a severe case of Obama hangover & fatigue. You hear Obama flapping his jaws all day long, you hear him before you go to bed at night. Hell, millions probably hear him yapping platitudes in their sleep! Obama has lost the trust of the American people. He’s done. His only hope is to slander opponents because he cannot run on his pathetic record and incompetence.
We need an honest leader, not a narcissist who loves to hear himself speak and thinks he is smarter than everyone else. He’s not. He’s done.
re 6:
Bush attending Andover as a youth and then Ivy League colleges on his daddy’s dime, and being AWOL for 1.5 years during the Vietnam war is a slap in the face to the American public. This coddled boob then has the temerity to pass himself of as a Texan.
You are too funny.
I think troll central fired the (LD)iot and put this ig(n)or(ant) in his place.
Well, you’ve pretty much defined every politician I know. And Obama is more justified in believing he’s smarter than most of the other politicians, at least. I’ll stick with Obama.
Irv-
You can defend Obama all you want like a good progressive loyalist, but Obama has singlehandedly destroyed the Progressive Movement. Now all you’ve got is a bunch of guilt-ridden white folks who want power and folks who want those handouts. Nice movement.
Oh and Irv–Bush isn’t running, Obama is.
@6
Just curious, while Congress is
out of sessionfaking a session to prevent recess appointments, would you prefer Obama stay in DC and make laws by executive order? What would be the bloviating right’s reaction to that? Elizabeth Warren, in. Hundreds of Federal and appellate court judges, in.So “igor” (the really stupid paid troll)…just so you know, “concern trolling doesn’t work here.
So far you’re abopu 0 for 30. Got any game at all??
Poor Igor. He gets his talking points from his handlers, but he always fucks up the presentation. Let’s pat the little fellow on the head and suggest he run home and seek the loving paws of his cat.
@5 You’re right. In fact, they’ll scream bloody murder about whatever he does, scream he’s “ineffective” if he doesn’t do anything for more than 15 seconds, and otherwise just make stuff up and scream about that. Or, some of ’em (like Puddy) will just scream.
@2 Are you fucking kidding? Those would have been the times that Cheney was officially running things in DC…
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.co.....ories.html
This MUST be our litle igor…
@13
hahahahhhahha cough cough hahahahahahhhaahhahaa cough cough ahhahahahahhahah
rujaxoff thinks he has “game”?!?!
hahahahahahhhhahhahaahhahahhah
so just how much “game” does a below-mediocre, angry, middle aged failed musician loser have anyways?
“CATS TOYS”
That’s funny. My cat is built like a tank, with two inch wide paws and she has the bite force of an alligator. If she ever chomped on my hand I’d have broken bones. The other cats I’ve had batted around little catnip mice. This cat plays with bowling balls. A friend brought a terrier over. I thought kitty was gonna fucking kill him and eat him. If she has a big brother somewhere, I don’t want to ever meet him. Anyways, I’m not gonna bend over naked around this cat. No fucking way.
Speaking of my dear Ms. Furbutt, I have a rugged old sofa that cats have been scratching on for 20 years without causing noticable damage. Ms. Furbutt had it ripped it to shreds in less than a month.
Another article about Rachel from Italy today, the latest of several there this week.
http://www.mondoecoblog.com/20.....-africani/
Rachel has already changed the world for the better, but she still needs our help to get more done.
http://www.mycharitywater.org/.....n_id=16396
@3: Unemployment was there before his vacay and will be there when he gets back.
A better target for anger is the cruelty of his policy and his politics, i.e. his complicity/”compromise” with Republicans. This budget cave-in completes the work of government reduction started by the Bush tax cuts.
Obama has only his relative gravitas left, and so now he’s making decisions that will hurt generations of Americans calculated to salvage his personal approval rating going into 2012.
Thank you, O-man.
# 22: I’m of two minds on this.
First, I thought Obama should have stood fast on the extension of the Bush tax cuts back in December. That would direct a wave of anger against the Republicans for ending unemployment benefits right before Christmas. A cruel strategy, to be sure, but better in the long run. The current strategy is nothing bettern than Neville’s appeasment policy – it only encourages misbehavior.
Second, I think we bear some of the blame. We haven’t provided Obama with the “cover” he needs to get the job done. By neglecting to work harder for Democrats in 2010 (in part because we didn’t think Obama was “liberal” enough), we put him into this position.
@23:
I think this is fair, but there was certainly a lot of pressure from liberals on specific issues, like healthcare reform and the tax issue, and Obama has repeatedly indicated by word and deed that liberals don’t matter, that he can take us for granted because he is the only game in town.
It’s certainly for us to show Obama that his “reasonableness” is not enough to keep him in office. We want the red meat! :-)
I believe President Obama did the right thing in his early attempts to compromise with Republicans. But he should have realized sooner than he did that he’s not dealing with the Republicans of days past. He’s dealing with right-wing extremists and there’s no compromising with extremists of any ilk.
re 11: Comparing apples to oranges may be something to avoid — but insisting that the same apple or orange can only be compared to itself is something only a dunderhead would propose.
You are that dunderhead, Dunderhead.
I’m glad Obummer is on vacation.
Obummer on Gallup’s daily tracking poll has sunk to 39 percent
Obummer Gallup’s daily tracking poll has Obummer’s disapproval reaching 54 percent.
Even the most rabid of Obummer’s jockstraps are at 11 percent.
All that QE1 & QE2 money sent by Bernanke and Tax Cheat Geithner has elevated what?
Let’s see:
1) Unemployment still above 9%
2) An upset Maxine Waters and Black Caucus
3) Hope and Change has turned to “I was a dope for his loose change”
4) $3 Trillion of Wealth gone in last 2 weeks
5) S&P downgrade on Obummer’s watch
6) Gold Silver Platinum, Krugerrands and Swiss Francs at their highest valuation ever
7) GoldLine making a killing
8) Inflation is happening
9) Around 1 in 5 American children in poverty
10)The HA morons were trumpeting how the Dow was at such high levels. Well it seems it’s lost ~2000 points so far. Now watch, the really moronics will appear and say “It’s better and when Bush had it”.
11) Why do black government workers have disproportionately higher pink slip numbers than their whitey counterparts under Obummer? Why isn’t the HA misogynist rujax screaming over this fact? Well the HA misogynist rujax is a leftist jackass who doesn’t care about his people. Has anyone seen this topic addressed by the HA misogynist?
For example many of the postal service employees are black. Who do you think are going to take the hit for those 120,000 layoffs? Black people. What is Obummer suggesting? It’s under his watch misogynist rujax!
12)Why does Obummer’s sadministration ignore FOIA Requests? – Major agencies cited the exemption at least 70,779 times during the 2009 budget year, up from 47,395 times during President George W. Bush’s final full budget year, according to annual reports filed by federal agencies. Obama was president for nine months in the 2009 period.
igor,
irv and julius are doppelgangers for headless lucy. Only a dunderhead calls others DUNDERHEADS!
Hate-filled loons spew hate. No surprise about that. The surprise would be a comment worth reading.
But keep in mind, the loon at 27, 28 did cart-wheels when nine year-old Christina Taylor Green was murdered at the Gifford shooting. He cheered Shawna Forde when she murdered nine year-old Bresinia Flores as she begged for her life after witnessing the shooting of her mother and father. And why was Bresinia and her father killed and her mother horribly injured? For being latino in America. For a loon, that’s was the only crime, not their murder.
You want to converse with a hate-filled loon – that’s your business. For my part, I’m not ever going there again.
Oh really! Let’s see those cartwheels!
Oh you mean Puddy identifying Jared Loughner as a left wing nut bag Stupid Solution Steve? That fried your testicles like a cattle prod?
BTW weird on AKA Stupid Solution Steve…
Here is my response back at your stupid accusation in January
This is why Stupid Solution Steve is such a dipshit!
Hate-filled loons would naturally go into denial when confronted about their glee over the murder of an innocent little girl.
Ahhh hate filled libtardo morons like Stupid Solution Steve makes accusations about others they can’t back up with proof! Call on the HA crazed databaze idiot arschloch to help ya Stupid Solution Steve. My proof is there for all to see! Caught again with the pink lace panties tightening .
Leftist moron Jared Loughner took the life of the little Christina Taylor PLAIN AND SIMPLE! Too bad your puny leetle mind has issues with facts!
See ya sucka!
ROTFLMBBAO at Stupid Solution Steve!
There is real STUPID in Steve’s Stupid Solution!
Testing
Apparently, at least in a hate-filled loon’s warped mind, right-wing extremist murderers of children Jared Loughner and Shawna Ford are in the Timothy McVeigh wing of the Democratic party. That’s three distinct wings of the Democratic party that reside only in a loon’s mind. Let’s see, we’ve got the Alan Greenspan wing, the Richard Armitage wing, and the Timothy McVeigh wing. That pretty much gives a hate-filled loon a way to disassociate himself from the right-wing wreckage of the economy, right-wing treason and right-wing mass murder, plus the murder of children. But this hate-filled loon justifies the headstomping of defenseless women by gangs of right-wing brownshirts by saying that she had it coming to her. He wants to own that one. How strange. And how revealing. Hmm, someone we know has deep-seated issues with women. I’d bet it’s because he’s got a tiny dick. heh. He’ll probably bring back MWS to refute that one. Such a loon.
Oh, and it gives a loon a was to disassociate himself from right-wing domestic terrorism. There’s a lot of disassociating going on with the loon, so it’s easy to leave one out. We could probably come up with quite the list of things that the hate-filled loon is in denial over.
heh. Can’t forget these guys,
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/Pedophiles.html
I recall the loon claiming that these 200 wingnut pedos were all Democrats who had infiltrated the Republican party. Such a loon!