RNC: Give it a break
It seems that slamming presidents for taking time to relax with their families away from the White House is now as much a tradition as family vacations themselves, but the Republican National Committee has taken such criticism to a new level with a website that asks the question "Play golf or save the Gulf?".
Critics are blasting Obama for last week's family getaway to the coast of Maine and anticipating an opportunity to rip him even harder for a long-planned return to Martha's Vineyard, where the Obamas vacationed last summer.
Political opponents using vacations as an opportunity to criticize presidents is an old and bipartisan tactic, one that's never made sense as a tool to sway voters or opinion.
President George W. Bush had his ranch in Texas, where he relaxed by hacking brush. He went 77 times during his presidency, for a total of 490 days.
Clinton was a Martha's Vineyard man, though he switched for two years mid-presidency to Jackson Hole, Wyo., after polls showed Americans found the Vineyard elitist.
President George H.W. Bush loved Kennebunkport, and for Ronald Reagan it was his ranch and horses in Santa Barbara that provided a respite from Washington.
Each of them was lambasted when he left the White House, usually with the rationale: "How can he vacation at a time like this, with so much going on?"
The world is never so calm that it seems there is nothing the president needs to do.
"There are enough problems at any moment that they open themselves up to the 'How can the president take a vacation at a time like this?' question," said David Lewis, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University who specializes in the presidency.
Presidents don't take vacations. They get changes of scenery, but they don't get time off,
Consider the setup the junior Bush created in Crawford. It included 10-15 doublewide trailers crammed with communications equipment and offices. Bush began every day in Crawford with a CIA briefing and a secure video teleconference on national security matters. He signed documents while in Crawford, read memos and was in constant communication with Washington.
To the extent that presidents can relax, we want them to do so. A frazzled and exhausted leader of the Free World is not a positive thing. The job is always intense. The nation always faces a crisis. That does not mean presidents should be chained to their desks.
And suggesting Obama should take his family to the Gulf Coast to give a shot in the arm to the region is silly. He would get no time with his family, have no ability to recharge, and the same people attacking him for going elsewhere would accuse him of turning the tragedy into an extended photo op.
Such attacks are only convincing to people who already dislike Obama. To Obama supporters, vacation slams are meaningless. To moderates who might go either way, they are alienating, meaningless partisan blather that makes the critics look far worse than the president.