When one reflects upon the past year, it’s evident that President Obama, the leader of the free world, has been a very busy man. He inherited from his predecessor one recession, two wars, a massive deficit, even more massive debts and a number of hamstrung federal agencies. His workload, in short, makes even a hamster who’s drunk ten shots of expresso wonder if it might not be time to get off the exercise wheel.
His job is not the easiest one in the world. During President Bush’s 2004 run for re-election, he said, “Being president is hard work.” And it is. The president is, broadly speaking, responsible for the life, liberty, freedom and safety of all Americans. If you ever thought Octomom had it tough taking care of her eight babies, think about having three hundred million kids all screaming for their food, their diaper changes, and whether or not the federal government will still be solvent to guarantee their Social Security payments.
Everybody needs a vacation from their job every now and again, and this applies to presidents more than most. Even though they are the top-ranked federal employees, presidents are expected to work nights, weekends and even federal holidays if it comes to it. Even on his vacation he has to be ready to answer his pager when it buzzes. Even the Senators don’t have to do that.
Some say that the president takes too many vacation days. After all, the economy is a wreck. We still have troops in war zones. There are still details on the Gulf oil spill to worry about. Plus those aliens at Area 51 have missed their weekly Skyped chess game.
According to Mark Knoller at CBS news, including trips to Camp David, right before President Obama’s August trip to Martha’s Vineyard, he took a grand sum total of 70 full or partial vacation days, including weekend days, since he took office.
Granted, most Americans do not get anywhere near that many vacation days, unlike their European counterparts. Still, looking at his predecessors might provide a reasonable comparison. By comparison, in the same amount of time in office, President George W Bush had taken 225 full and partial days away from the White House.
But, let’s go back further. FactCheck.org examined full and partial vacation days taken by Presidents in their first year of office, all the way back to President Carter. By their count, not including trips to Camp David, here’s how they rank: Carter (D), 19 days; Clinton (D), 21 days; Obama (D), 26 days; Bush Sr. (R), 40 days at Kennebunkport, uncertain of other days; President Reagan (R), 42 days; Bush Jr. (R), 69 days.
Could Obama spend more days at the White House? Technically, yes. Still, it is safe to say that his vacations get a lot more press coverage than his predecessor’s. Maybe it’s because he takes fewer of them.