After only four and a half years in office, President Bush has already spent 11 full calendar months on vacation at his ranch at Crawford, TX (this figure doesn't count vacation spent elsewhere). This is a vacation rate that the much-derided French would be jealous of.
I have no problem with presidents taking vacations. It's a pretty stressful job. Just look at ANY president's before- and during-the-presidency photos; one inevitably shows a lot more grey hair.
One could argue that I should be happy he's on vacation so much, since he does so much damage to the country and the world when he's working. But normal logic doesn't seem to apply here. Maybe the president spends so much time on vacation that he rushes through things when he's working and we end up with half-baked, ill-conceived excursions like the Iraq aggression. (Of course, that's the generous view since some contend the aggression has been in the works for a decade)
Even by presidential standards, Bush sure relaxes a lot... especially for a 'war president' (or whatever the euphemism of the day is). After only 4 1/2 years, Bush recently broke the presidential record for most vacation that was set by that other conservative idol Ronald Reagan. A record Reagan took 8 years to set, and that was including recovery from an assassination attempt.
I don't really much care how much time the president spends on vacation. I am more concerned about what he does when he's not Deep in the Heart of.
But it makes you wonder why many conservatives, those supposed champions of hard work and long hours at the expense of family, health and sanity, so adore presidents who adopt the 'bleeding heart' philosophy of a reasonable balance between work and play.
I guess the president is more French than we all realized.
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