Charles Krauthammer on Obama's Martha's Vineyard vacation:
His problem about this is not the choice of time, the length of vacation. It’s the choice of place. I think everybody understands a president, any chief executive, has to have time off. And they wouldn’t begrudge him.
But, as an example, if he had chosen to spend it at Camp David, which is not exactly a Marine boot camp, it’s got all the amenities — it’s understood, it’s a place where a president goes. Eisenhower spent a lot of time there. In fact it’s named after his grandson. Presidents go there, everybody accepts it. It wouldn’t have been an issue.
Part of the Left's false equivalence is that if you object to Obama vacationing at lavish and pricy resorts, that you are objecting to him taking any time off at all. Although, I think Charles is being a little kind to Obama about the choice of time. Candidate Obama (he's more candidate than President these days!) says he has a plan to solve the unemployment problem, which is current, immediate and severe, and he says he'll be happy to share the details with us in ten days, after he gets back from his vacation with all those rich folk who don't currently need jobs! If he was serious or if he thought his plan was something more than yet another failed stimulus bill in the making, wouldn't he want to implement it as soon as possible? And since Michelle left for Martha's Vineyard on a separate plane, couldn't he have stayed behind for a day or two, actually done his job and then met her there?
But choosing an exclusive enclave like the Vineyard after spending three days on the road railing against the rich and the wealthy and the millionaires and the billionaires and the corporate jet owners who vacation exactly in the same place — and then spending ten days in their company — speaks of a kind of dissonance or hypocrisy.
Three grueling days of campaigning on his Canadian made, million dollar rock star bus and the guy certainly needs a break! And maybe a fundraiser or two?
You know, the Vineyard doesn’t have any bridges to it. You either get there on a ferry in your Maserati, or on a jet or a helicopter. It’s not exactly where ordinary folks will take a vacation.
Keeps out the hoi polloi, don'tcha know?
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Charles' remarks sum up his ENTIRE presidency. 3-days in his Canadian made bus campaigning, I mean touring, then a 10-day vacation hobnobbing with the ultra-rich. He loves to rant about the rich, then distances himself from the Great Unwashed masses. With any luck at all he will distance himself even further come Nov. 6, 2012.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule of thumb, don't you have to do something first, before leaving it behind is considered a vacation?
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