President Barack Obama (L) waves to the crowd after he and daughters Sasha (3rd L) leave the Bunch of Grapes Book Store August 19, 2011 on Martha's Vineyard, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. Obama and his family are on a 10-day vacation on the island. (Photo by CJ Gunther-Pool/Getty Images)
I got through eight years of George W. Bush's presidency without once complaining about his vacations. So I feel perfectly justified in saying that those who insist on griping about Barack Obama's vacation should save their breath to cool their soup.
Why should conservatives mind if the president wants to knock off for a few days to spend time with his family? Aren't those days he can't spend trying to turn America into a socialist hell? You'd think they'd object only when he goes back to work.
The Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, in one of her occasional fits of lunacy, interprets Obama's trip as evidence he's depressed and distracted, unable to muster any energy for the job he wanted. Why else, she asks, would he go to Martha's Vineyard, "a playground of the liberal rich"?
Well, maybe because he doesn't have a ranch in Texas or a compound in Kennebunkport, unlike some recent Republican presidents. Maybe because it's one of the few places where locals are used to celebrities and a president can vacation without causing terrible disruptions. Maybe because it's a nice place to visit, and one that prior to becoming a national figure -- Obama wasn't rich during his days in the state legislature -- was beyond his means.
Some things are really a president's business, not mine or Noonan's. Unless Obama repairs to a villa in North Korea, where he takes a summer break is one of them.
Why should conservatives mind if the president wants to knock off for a few days to spend time with his family? Aren't those days he can't spend trying to turn America into a socialist hell? You'd think they'd object only when he goes back to work.
The Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, in one of her occasional fits of lunacy, interprets Obama's trip as evidence he's depressed and distracted, unable to muster any energy for the job he wanted. Why else, she asks, would he go to Martha's Vineyard, "a playground of the liberal rich"?
Well, maybe because he doesn't have a ranch in Texas or a compound in Kennebunkport, unlike some recent Republican presidents. Maybe because it's one of the few places where locals are used to celebrities and a president can vacation without causing terrible disruptions. Maybe because it's a nice place to visit, and one that prior to becoming a national figure -- Obama wasn't rich during his days in the state legislature -- was beyond his means.
Some things are really a president's business, not mine or Noonan's. Unless Obama repairs to a villa in North Korea, where he takes a summer break is one of them.