The far-right is flipping its shpadoinkle (this article was linked from Drudge) over the president's forthcoming holiday vacation in Hawaii -- you know, his home state. Right-wing talk radio is all over this, too.
Fact: at this point in their first terms, both Reagan and Bush 43 spent many more days on vacation than President Obama. Double for Reagan and triple for Bush. As of August, 2011:
So far, President Obama has taken 61 vacation days after 31 months in office. At this point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch where his staff often joined him for meetings. And Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch.
Conservatives are also implying that since we're in an employment slump, the president ought to show some solidarity and remain at work. Oh, you mean like George W. Bush, who spent 180 days on vacation -- three times as many days as President Obama -- some of that time while terrorists were planning to fly planes into Manhattan and Washington landmarks, some of that time while we were engaged in two wars, and some of that time while we were in a recession.
Not surprisingly, the glaring disparity between how Bush and Reagan vacations are ignored while Obama vacations are a major trespass smacks of the old racist stereotype of African-Americans being lazy and shiftless.
Adding... Reader 'alopecia' in the comments:
LANGUAGE WARNING: Sensitive readers are advised not to read this comment. Failure to heed this warning may cause uncontrollable pearl-clutching and the seeking of fainting couches. You have been warned.
So, DAILY MAIL REPORTER is aghast that the President of the United States can take (his words, not mine) "a staggering 17-day trip" to Hawai'i. He also helpfully reminds his readers that President Obama was just in the state two weeks ago for an economic summit (as if that were the same as a winter vacation).
What DAILY MAIL REPORTER doesn't bother to mention is that, as a Mail commenter helpfully points out, British MPs have a three-week winter holiday. DAILY MAIL REPORTER also fails to mention the two-weeks-on-one-week-off schedule the Republican leadership has instituted for the House of Representatives. DAILY MAIL REPORTER doesn't even bother to tally up the costs to taxpayers of David Cameron's public and private trips. In short, DAILY MAIL REPORTER is, to use a common British term of opprobrium, a twat (pronounced with a flat 'a' and only a very indirect reference to ladybits).
Now, if DAILY MAIL REPORTER is a woman, I apologize for the male pronouns used in the paragraphs above (but not for the insult, which is richly deserved). In my defense, however, if one is too much of a coward to attach one's name to a mendacious hatchet job, mistakes like this can happen.
It's not surprising that Drudge would link to a rag like the Daily Mail.