Hat tip to Constant Reader Wilfred for this item.
/potentially some sarcasm ahead/
In this age of telecommuting, teleconferencing, and other instantaneous communication it may not represent the same level of disengagment it would have a generation ago, but President Bush seems to be shooting for another placement in the Guiness Book of World Records* with regards to how much time he spends away from the White House. In a Washington Post article yesterday about Administration reactions to the situation in Iraq we learn:
This is Bush’s 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.
Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry noted how the President has said that “when he takes days off, you know, he totally relaxes: He doesn’t watch television, he doesn’t read the newspapers, he doesn’t make long-term plans, doesn’t worry about the economy….” (insert your own punchline here). White House communications director Dan Bartlett’s retorted that at least Bush is “not skiing” in Texas. Now I hear the slopes near Crawford are awesome, but until Kerry’s actually in the White House, I’m not sure how relevant that observation is.
But is that really a record-breaking amount of vacation? Let’s compare:
George Bush Sr. took all or part of 543 vacation days at Camp David and in Kennebunkport. Ronald Reagan spent 335 days at or en route to his Santa Barbara, California, ranch during his eight years in office. Of recent presidents, Jimmy Carter took the least days off — only 79 days, which he usually spent at his home in Georgia. That’s less than three weeks a year, which is closer to the average American’s paid time off of 13 days per year.
What about Clinton? As of December 1999, President Bill Clinton had spent only 152 days on holiday during his two terms, according to CBS News. A former staffer noted Clinton was such a workaholic that “it almost killed Clinton to take one-week vacations during August.” In 2000, Clinton cut his summer vacation short to just three days, so he and his wife could concentrate on her Senate race and fundraising for Democrats. While we couldn’t find the exact tally for Clinton’s last year in office, it’s reasonable to expect he didn’t increase his vacation rate. And in barely three years in office, George W. Bush has already taken more vacation than Clinton did in seven years.
Personally, I prefer a workaholic type President…an overachiver type seems best suited for the job, but I don’t begrudge George Bush his time to relax. It’s a stressful job, I’m sure. He deserves the time off. In fact, he deserves much more time off than he’s taking now…what do you say? Should we give it to him?
/sarcasm end/
*Bush is already in it as “US President With The Wealthiest Cabinet”
Personally, I prefer a workaholic type President…
Yeah, that worked great with Jimmy The Micromanager Carter…
Don’t be silly, the job is 24/7/365 no matter where the guy is.
Don’t be silly, the job is 24/7/365 no matter where the guy is.
It’s a nice meme, but it’s really not true.
Two things happen when the top executive goes on vacation; one, he or she isn’t gaining full visibility on pressing issues–he or she is, at best, receiving summaries or compilations. Given that Bush isn’t all that engaged when he’s in the WH, this is troublesome to imagine that he’s even less engaged while on vacation. Two, the executive staff tends to run at a slower pace while the boss is away.
Two, the executive staff tends to run at a slower pace while the boss is away.
Only in weak organizations.
Only in weak organizations.
In my experience, then, every organization is weak* — though you will, of course, find certain pockets of highly motivated people.*
von
*I’ve probably dealt enough organizations at this point to have considered a representative sample. Since I typically need to talk to a range of people, and I’m outside the formal structure, I probably have a better view on things than someone within the structure.
**I suspect, for example, that Wolfowitz goes at 110% no matter where Bush is.
Given the current situation in Iraq and the response from the Bush League, I’d say that particular organization is very weak at the moment.
Cmon guys, slower organization or not, we are far better off with Bush out of the loop. The less he knows or does, the better off the country is.
let’s not forget that there was a 28 day vacation after only 7 months in office, the longest presidential vaction in history- Aug’01. Maybe that Aug. 6 PDB was read in the pick-up truck while on the cell phone?
I find this bad symbolism – part of Bush’s job is to be at the office when dozens of men he sent into combat are dying – whether or not it has a real effect on governance.
And poor Rice – if my boss was on vacation while I was getting a 3-hour televised grilling, I’d be unhappy.
To be fair, the Clinton comparison above is weakened in my view by “In 2000, Clinton cut his summer vacation short to just three days, so he and his wife could concentrate on her Senate race and fundraising for Democrats.” On the other hand, the above accounting probably doesn’t include _Bush_’s fundraising/politicking time.
As an illustration of the potential deleterious effects of Bush’s frequent vacationing, let us recall the events of March 2002. A series of suicide bombings in Israel led to Israel retaliating against most cities in the West Bank. As the violence escalated, Bush administration officials worked with the British at the U.N. on a resolution calling on Israel to pull out of the Palestinian cities as a way to ease the growing tension. The resolution passed unanimously, with the Bush administration’s enthusiastic support.
However, Bush was yet again on vacation and, as Time Magazine reported:
“But that afternoon, when he finally made a statement, Bush seemed unaware of what his Administration had been up to. And he was working without a net: none of his top aides had followed him to Texas. “Everyone was on vacation,” says a chagrined White House official, “and they pretty much stayed on vacation.” Staffing the President was a junior press aide normally assigned to Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, and it showed. “I can understand why the Israeli government takes the actions they take,” Bush said. “Their country is under attack.” Given the U.N. vote that very morning, the message was incoherent. And the imagery and atmospherics were all wrong: wearing an open-collar shirt and rocking back and forth in his chair, Bush looked like his pre-Sept. 11 self, a little bit scared and a little bit scary. A top official said later, “It was a mistake.”
In know the cabinet millionaires footnote is mostly a throwaway – New cabinet positions get added over time and the dollar is worth less.
In the same spirit, I’m excited that this November Bush is likely to become the single most voted for person for president in history. If he only matches his total from 2000, he’ll be about dead even with FDR.
oops, was just informed that Bush read the Aug. 6th PDB while on the way to play golf. but maybe he was in his pickup truck on the way?
Aug 6, 2001
Many of those days are weekends, and the Camp David stays have included working visits with foreign leaders. But administration officials, who initially believed that regular trips to the Texas ranch enhanced Bush’s image as a rugged outsider, are acting like they may be worried about the perception that he is loafing.
The White House held a briefing today to announce that Bush had run four miles early this morning, held a 45-minute meeting with four senior officials here and talked by telephone with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice about Macedonia.
McClellan disclosed that Bush is reading “In the Heart of the Sea,” last year’s account of the whaling disaster that inspired “Moby Dick.” He said Bush intends to finish David McCullough’s “John Adams,” and then probably will read “a mystery [PDB] of some kind” but hasn’t yet determined which one. [“Al Qaeda Determined to Strike in the United States”]
“I love to go walking out there, seeing the cows — occasionally they talk to me, being the good listener that I am,” Bush told Future Farmers of America leaders last month.
http://www.dke.org/haginranch.html
“Has anyone seen Lt. Dyke?”
Anybody get the reference? Kind of a cheap shot, but I’m too hungover for anything else.
In the same spirit, I’m excited that this November Bush is likely to become the single most voted for person for president in history. If he only matches his total from 2000, he’ll be about dead even with FDR
But if he only matches his total for 2000 (I doubt he’ll do as well, with the number of Republicans who have changed their minds about him since 2000), there’s no way he can become “the single most voted for person for President in history”: that will be John Kerry, as he cruises past Bush to victory.
A record number of Americans overseas have registered to vote in the November election. And every single one of them I’ve spoken to says they want to make sure Bush doesn’t get in again for four more years…
Jesurgislac,
It’s far too early to tell, but I wonder if you’re not in danger of sounding like Pauline Kael after Nixon’s 1972 landslide, when she couldn’t understand how Nixon won because nobody she knew voted for him.
Andrew,
It’s far too early to tell either way, I agree, and will be until vote-counting finishes (this coming November, hopefully, rather than the following October as in the previous Presidential election). My comment about Bush losing was a response to mike p’s fantasies of a Bushwin at April 9, 2004 02:09 PM 02:09 PM.
(And sure, “the people I’ve spoken to” are not in any way a representative sample, nor would I claim they were: but they range across the political spectrum, including not a few people who say they would normally vote Republican but cannot stomach seeing such a disaster of a President for a second term.)