August 13, 2005

It's Vacation Time: Where's Bush?

With the whole Cindy Sheehan debacle, there has been renewed interest in how much time President Bush spends vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Currently, the president is in the midst of a five-week break. Now when you and I go on vacation, we turn on our out-of-office notifications on our work e-mail, pay a neighborhood kid a few dollars to feed the cat and take in the mail, and we disappear for a week or two of fun in the sun...or wherever our destination might be.

Do you really think a president can just expect to answer e-mails and voice messages when he gets back to the Oval Office? Rubbish. Presidents are always on call, vacation time or not. It's absurd to think that in the event of a crisis he can just say, "It'll have to wait until I get back," or, "Tell Dick to handle it."

Bush still gets his daily briefings, he still meets with his advisors, and he also invites foreign dignitaries and leaders to his ranch in order to discuss world affairs. With today's technology, the president is just a phone call away from important developments, and can get back to Washinton in the course of a few hours if need be.

Look at last year's tsunami. Kofi Annan, whom the left simply adores as the head of the beloved U.N., didn't immediately cut short his ski vacation--in fact, he waited three days before heading back to U.N. headquarters in order to muff up relief efforts. Here's what he said in his defense:

ÒFirst of all, there was action. It wasnÕt inaction. We live in a world where you can operate from wherever you are. You know the world we live in now. You donÕt have to be physically here to be dealing with the leaders and the governments I have been dealing with.Ó

That sounds reasonable. But look at the contrast: Kofi waits three days to come back after a disaster. George W. Bush waits for perhaps 20 or 20 minutes after the World Trade center is plowed into by planes, and he's evil incarnate. Give me a break.

Take a look at Bill Clinton. He didn't take as many actual "vacations" as Bush does, but what did he do instead? He traveled all over the world on the taxpayer's dime. This piece helps put a little perspective on the issue. Three trips in 1998 alone

...cost the American taxpayer at least $72 million -- with the Africa trip alone accounting for $42.8 million. Not only did they seriously affect the taxpayer's wallet, these three trips seriously affected America's defense. Fully 84 percent of the $72-million price tag came from the DOD budget. For example, the cost per hour to fly Air Force One, the president's personal plane, is $34,400. Of course, the $72-million price tag paid for a lot more than just flying President Clinton. It also paid for 297 military missions largely for the ferrying back and forth of some 2,400 people and necessary equipment working -- sometimes months in advance -- to assure smooth travel for the President. The trip to Africa alone involved 10 advance trips by military planes and the travel of 904 DOD personnel -- the equivalent of a U.S. Army battalion.

You know, for someone who didn't think our military was terribly necessary, he certainly used it to his advantage. And, when the piece was written (back in 1999, shortly before Bush took office), Clinton held quite a few travel records:

Most Countries Visited (59), Total Foreign Travel Days (186), and Most Days of Foreign Travel Per Year (27.6)

And we paid for it. Now I'm not saying a president shouldn't ever visit other countries. That would be absurd. But folks today who are complaining that Bush spends too much time at his ranch should be thinking about how much Clinton spent--literally--when he went to Africa, China, and other exotic locales in order to get a lot of feel-good time in front of the fawning cameras of the MSM.

Besides, don't liberals think that we should be doing what socialist countries in Europe do by giving everyone at least four or five weeks of vacation per year? In that instance, Bush is simply emulating Europeans which, of course, is what liberals liked about John Kerry.

Oh, and don't forget, our illustrious Senate, whose members are also on the public payroll, get two weeks in January, a week in February, two weeks in March, two weeks in May, a week off in July, and the whole month of August...and all of the federal holidays.

The whole thing is ridiculous. The presidency is an extremely stressful job. Just look at how much the men who hold the office age in the four-to-eight years from first taking the job to leaving it. Who are we, with only our own personal cares to worry about, to criticize a man for trying to relax who has to think about more than we ever will?

*Cross-posted at Lifelike Pundits.*

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